Instruct agents to call help() before any other SLayer tool (DEV-1652)

[ZmeiGorynych]

What

Strengthen the SLayer MCP server instructions (sent to the client at the initialize handshake) so agents are told to call help() before touching any other SLayer tool.

• Lead directive now mandates help() first: "Before calling any other SLayer tool, call help() first for an overview of SLayer concepts, then help(topic='...') for deep dives on specific topics."
• Typical workflow updated to help → search → inspect → query.

Why

Previously the instructions only softly mentioned help() alongside a workflow that started with list_datasources, so agents had no clear signal to orient themselves via help() before querying.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Updated the onboarding guidance shown to users, recommending help() as the first step before using other tools.
  • Refined the typical workflow to encourage a new sequence for exploring and querying data.

[linear]

DEV-1652

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: a9452b1e-6486-4899-801b-e48c9d69b722

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 57c1dae and 5aeac1f.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• slayer/mcp/server.py

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Updated the instructional text in the MCP server's instructions string to require calling help() before other tools and revised the typical workflow order to help → search → inspect → query, replacing the prior list_datasources/models_summary-based sequence.

Changes

Instructions Text Update

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Update onboarding workflow guidance slayer/mcp/server.py	Changed instructions text to require calling help() first and updated the typical workflow sequence to help → search → inspect → query.

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~2 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly matches the main change: making help() the first SLayer tool agents should call.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch egor/dev-1652-make-sure-to-tell-the-agent-to-call-help-before-calling

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_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud