[mcp-analysis] MCP Structural Analysis - 2026-02-24

[github-actions[bot]]

11 GitHub MCP tools analyzed across 3 days (Feb 22–24, 2026). Today's total context footprint: 23,926 tokens across 11 tools. Average usefulness rating: 3.09/5. Two tools remain inaccessible (403), while list_discussions and search_repositories lead with perfect 5/5 ratings. list_code_scanning_alerts continues to dominate token consumption at 13,514 tokens per call.

Quick Summary

Metric	Value
Tools Analyzed	11
Total Tokens (Today)	23,926
Average Usefulness Rating	3.09/5
Best Rated	list_discussions, search_repositories — 5/5
Worst Rated	get_me, list_notifications — 1/5 (403 errors)
Most Token-Heavy	list_code_scanning_alerts — 13,514 tokens
Most Token-Efficient	get_label — 25 tokens

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Full Structural Analysis Report

Usefulness Ratings for Agentic Work

Tool	Toolset	Rating	Assessment
list_discussions	discussions	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Excellent — compact, paginated, all key fields immediately actionable
search_repositories	search	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Excellent — rich metadata (topics, stars, language) in one call
list_commits	repos	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — clean nested structure, author + committer data, actionable
list_issues	issues	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — full issue data with pagination; body size is variable
get_label	labels	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — flat object, minimal tokens, all needed fields present
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — payload offloaded to file; extra read step required
list_workflows	actions	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — payload offloaded; ignores per_page=1 (returns all 205)
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	⭐⭐	Limited — 54k chars, deeply nested (depth 5), no per-page filtering
get_file_contents	repos	⭐⭐	Limited — only returns SHA and success message; file content not visible
get_me	context	⭐	Poor — 403 error in this environment
list_notifications	notifications	⭐	Poor — 403 error in this environment

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Schema Analysis

Tool	Type	Depth	Key Fields	Notes
get_me	error	0	—	Not accessible by integration
get_file_contents	string	1	sha, status	File content not returned inline
list_commits	array	3	sha, html_url, commit.message, commit.author, author.login	Well-structured nested commit metadata
list_issues	object	3	number, title, state, body, labels, user, pageInfo, totalCount	GraphQL-style with cursor pagination
list_pull_requests	array	4	id, number, state, title, body, user, labels, head, base	Deeply nested; payload file redirect
list_workflows	object	3	id, name, path, state, created_at, total_count	Returns all records regardless of per_page
list_code_scanning_alerts	array	5	number, rule.id, rule.severity, state, tool.name, location.path	Maximum nesting; no pagination control
list_discussions	object	3	number, title, category.name, user.login, created_at, pageInfo	Clean GraphQL structure, properly paginated
get_label	object	1	id, color, description, name	Ideal flat structure, minimal overhead
search_repositories	object	3	total_count, items.name, items.language, items.topics, items.stargazers_count	Rich metadata, topics array, compact
list_notifications	error	0	—	Not accessible by integration

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Response Size Analysis

Toolset	Avg Tokens (Feb 24)	3-Day Avg	Tools Tested
code_security	13,514	17,502	list_code_scanning_alerts
pull_requests	4,542	5,241	list_pull_requests
actions	3,940	3,903	list_workflows
issues	1,400	1,083	list_issues
labels	25*	935**	get_label (+ list_label Feb 22)
search	135	145	search_repositories
repos	120	120	get_file_contents, list_commits
discussions	105	100	list_discussions
context	13	13	get_me
notifications	13	13	list_notifications

* get_label (single item). ** Feb 22 included list_label (2,755 tokens) which inflates this average.

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Tool-by-Tool Analysis — Feb 24, 2026

Tool	Toolset	Tokens	Schema	Depth	Rating	Notes
get_me	context	13	error	0	1/5	403 - not accessible by integration
get_file_contents	repos	14	string	1	2/5	Returns SHA only; no file content inline
list_commits	repos	225	array	3	4/5	Clean, compact, actionable
list_issues	issues	1,400	object	3	4/5	Good; body length varies by issue
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	4,542	array	4	3/5	Payload file (18,169 chars original)
list_workflows	actions	3,940	object	3	3/5	Payload file (15,748 chars); ignores per_page
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	13,514	array	5	2/5	Payload file (54,058 chars); no per-page
list_discussions	discussions	105	object	3	5/5	Excellent — perfectly sized
get_label	labels	25	object	1	4/5	Ideal flat object
search_repositories	search	135	object	3	5/5	Rich, compact, immediately useful
list_notifications	notifications	13	error	0	1/5	403 - not accessible by integration

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3-Day Trend Summary

Date	Tools	Total Tokens	Avg Rating
Feb 22	12	39,817	3.08/5
Feb 23	11	23,811	3.00/5
Feb 24	11	23,926	3.09/5

The Feb 22 spike was driven by list_code_scanning_alerts returning 25,476 tokens (vs ~13,514 on subsequent days, reflecting fewer open alerts in the payload), plus the inclusion of list_label (2,755 tokens). Token usage has stabilized around ~24k/day for the current 11-tool test set.

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Recommendations

High-value tools (rating 4–5, use freely):

• list_discussions (105 tokens), search_repositories (135 tokens), list_commits (225 tokens), get_label (25 tokens), list_issues (variable, ~600–1400 tokens)

Context-efficient sweet spot (low tokens + high rating):

• get_label → 25 tokens / 4⭐
• list_discussions → 105 tokens / 5⭐
• search_repositories → 135 tokens / 5⭐
• list_commits → 225 tokens / 4⭐

Tools needing improvement:

• list_code_scanning_alerts — Needs per-page filtering; currently returns entire alert set regardless of params
• list_workflows / list_pull_requests — per_page parameter ignored or not enforced; payload redirect adds friction
• get_file_contents — Should return file content directly rather than saving to disk silently

Unavailable in this environment (403):

• get_me, list_notifications — Integration token does not have user-level scopes

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Visualizations

Response Size by Toolset (3-Day Comparison)

Usefulness Ratings by Toolset

Daily Token Usage Trend

Token Size vs Usefulness (Scatter)

References: §22348447807

AI generated by GitHub MCP Structural Analysis

• expires on Feb 25, 2026, 11:23 AM UTC

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This discussion was automatically closed because it expired on 2026-02-25T11:23:31.660Z.

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