Option D addresses the architectural cause of the failure: an ambiguous tool surface. Claude chooses tools partly from their names, descriptions, schemas, and the relationship between the request and the capability described. If multiple tools appear to perform substantially the same task, selection becomes unnecessarily difficult.
Anthropic’s tool-definition guidance explicitly recommends consolidating related operations into fewer tools and making descriptions clear about both what a tool does and when it should be used. The documentation notes that fewer, more capable tools reduce selection ambiguity and make the available tool surface easier for Claude to navigate.
Option A makes the ambiguity worse by expanding an already overlapping tool set. B destroys required application capabilities. C could improve selection somewhat, because examples can clarify complex inputs, but it leaves the underlying duplication intact. Examples complement good tool design; they are not a substitute for distinct tool responsibilities.
Therefore, D is the strongest solution: remove unused tools, merge functions that represent the same conceptual operation, and write discriminative descriptions defining appropriate and inappropriate usage. Relevant Study Guide topics: tool design, tool selection, descriptions, tool consolidation, agent construction, and reducing ambiguity.
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