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Every tool on the ish MCP server follows four conventions. Learn them once and the whole catalog reads the same way: you can predict a tool’s name, its read shape, and whether a host will gate it before you call it.

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Naming: noun_verb

Tool names are <noun>_<verb>, underscore-separated, lowercase. The noun is the domain primitive; the verb is the workflow outcome. Names use an underscore, never a dot. Underscore grouping resolves the same across every MCP client (Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop) with no sanitization step. Verbs name a workflow outcome, not a CRUD operation on a row. study_run resolves the audience, materializes the people, and dispatches the modality batch in one call, then polls to a terminal state when you pass wait=True. chatbot_setup absorbs detection, creation, and a smoke test. One tool stands in for what a resource-per-CRUD surface needs four to seven calls to do.
The noun keeps the domain distinction legible. study_* is the journey primitive (how do people experience this end to end), ask_* is the comparison primitive (which of these lands). You pick the right tool from its name, before reading any description.

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Polymorphic _get

Each readable noun has one _get tool. It is the list reader, the single-entity reader, and the projection reader, discriminated by which optional id you set, never by an action= enum.
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alias | uuid
List mode. Returns a paginated envelope of entities under that scope.
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alias | uuid
Single-entity read. An optional view= selects a projection: summary, full, per_participant, transcripts, or insights.
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(alias | uuid)[]
Cross-entity read. Used for benchmark comparisons across several entities at once.
Set exactly one discriminating id. Zero or more than one raises [validation_error] before any backend call. Because every mode is a read, the read-only annotation (below) holds across all of them. The _get tools: workspace_get, brand_get, study_get, ask_get, person_get, chatbot_get. The status reads (connect_status, site_access_get, upload_status) follow the same read-only contract. Mutations are never polymorphic across verbs. Create, run, revise, and delete are separate named tools so the safety annotation cannot collapse.

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Annotation tiers

Every tool carries one MCP annotation tier. Hosts read the tier to decide what to auto-approve and what to gate. The per-tool tier is on each tool’s reference page and in the catalog index.
destructive is reserved for tools that remove persisted user data: workspace_delete, study_delete, ask_delete, brand_delete, person_delete, chatbot_delete, chatbot_delete_configuration. Each one is a separately named tool, never a delete mode on a polymorphic tool, so the destructiveHint survives at the schema level.
A lifecycle flip is not destructive. simulation_cancel walks a person to cancelled without removing any artifact, so it is write, not destructive. simulation_extend resumes a terminal person with more steps, so it is long-running. Reserve destructive for actual data removal.

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Ids: alias or UUID

Every id parameter accepts the full UUID or the entity’s short alias. The two forms are interchangeable anywhere an id is expected; pass back whichever the previous tool returned.
Each noun owns a fixed alias prefix: An id parameter validates the prefix: pass a w- workspace alias where a study id is expected and it raises [validation_error] before any backend call. A brand resolves through the workspace prefix, since a brand is a workspace underneath.
Aliases are minted per server instance and held in memory, so an alias from one session may be unknown to another. When an alias is not recognized, the error names the read tool that re-mints it (for example study_get(workspace_id=...)), or pass the full UUID from the entity’s id field. The overview defines the alias model in full.

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See also

Tool catalog

Every tool with its annotation tier and domain page.

Resources

The ish:// resources that mirror reads without a tool call.

Concepts overview

The entity tree and the alias model both conventions build on.

Study tools

The study_* namespace, where most conventions are visible at once.