[RFC] Purpose Assertions and Provenance-Aware Tool Semantics

[mmethodz]

Pre-submission Checklist

• I have verified this would not be more appropriate as a feature request in a specific repository
• I have searched existing discussions to avoid duplicates

Your Idea

Hi I am Mika, developer of DreamGraph,

This is an exploratory RFC/discussion proposal based on real-world multi-agent orchestration and graph-grounded tooling experience.

MCP currently standardizes tool capability exposure well, but it does not currently provide a standard way for tools to express:

• contextual authority,
• provenance-backed relevance,
• evidence scope/freshness,
• or confidence grounded in inspectable evidence.

As a result, planners often treat all tools as capability peers even when omission of certain context-authoritative tools materially increases architectural drift risk.

This proposal explores whether MCP could support optional purpose assertions and provenance-aware tool semantics while preserving full host/model autonomy.

The intent is NOT to force tool invocation.

The intent is to standardize a way for tools to expose evidence-backed relevance claims so planners can make more informed decisions.

Draft proposal attached below for discussion and feedback.
mcp_purpose_assertions_proposal_draft.md

Scope

• Protocol Specification
• SDK Features
• Documentation
• Developer Experience
• Other