feat(mcp): forgive get_symbol(id=) and ground a hedged get_answer on the served body

[RaghavChamadiya]

Two small MCP fixes for friction hit while using the tools for normal exploration. Both are additive and behavior-preserving outside the exact cases they target.

get_symbol accepts id= as an alias for symbol_id=

The tool table documents this tool as get_symbol(id), so id= is the natural call, but the parameter was symbol_id and the mismatched call returned a hard pydantic Field required error. That is the kind of one-off error that trains a caller to stop using the tool.

id is now accepted as an alias. symbol_id still wins when both are given, and passing neither returns the existing shaped "required" response instead of raising.

A hedged get_answer stays at medium when it already serves the named body

When synthesis hedges but the exact symbol the question named is inlined in symbol_bodies as its full live body, the answer's ground truth is already in the payload. Reporting confidence: "low" with a "read the fallback targets" hint contradicts what was returned and pushes the caller to re-read a file it does not need.

Such a response now holds at confidence: "medium" with grounding: "symbol_body" and a note that points at the served body. The bump is gated to the exact question-named symbol only (tier-0 anchor); a hedge with no such body still reports low as before.

Tests

• test_symbol_range_and_recovery.py: id= alias resolves, symbol_id wins over id, neither returns the shaped error.
• test_answer_calibration.py: hedge + served named body holds medium + grounding, with a negative control that a hedge without the body stays low.
• Full tests/unit/server/mcp suite green (422).

[repowise-bot]

✅ Health: 7.6 (unchanged)

📋 At a glance
1 file changed health · 4 hotspots touched · 5 new findings introduced · 5 co-change pairs left out · 2 files with recent fix history · 1 dead-code finding.

Files & modules (2)

• packages (2 files)
  • .../tool_answer/answer.py
  • .../mcp_server/tool_symbol.py
• tests (2 files)
  • .../mcp/test_symbol_range_and_recovery.py
  • .../mcp/test_answer_calibration.py

⚠️ Change risk: moderate _{(riskier than 39% of this repo's commits · raw 8.4/10)}
This change's risk is driven by:

• more lines added than baseline
• more scattered than baseline

🩹 Review priority _{(files here with the most recent bug-fix history — defects cluster, so review these first)}

• .../tool_answer/answer.py — fixed 2× in the last ~6 months
• .../mcp_server/tool_symbol.py — fixed 2× in the last ~6 months

File	Score	Δ	Why
.../mcp/test_symbol_range_and_recovery.py	10.0 → 9.3	▼ -0.7	🔻 introduced duplicated assertion block

💡 .../mcp/test_symbol_range_and_recovery.py: De-duplicate this assertion block. The same checks are copy-pasted across tests, so a behaviour change must be edited in several places and usually isn't. Extract the shared assertions into a helper or parametrize the cases over the varying inputs.

🔎 More signals (3)

🔥 Hotspots touched (4)

• .../mcp/test_symbol_range_and_recovery.py — 2 commits/90d, 2 dependents · primary owner: Swati Ahuja (63%)
• .../tool_answer/answer.py — 13 commits/90d, 2 dependents · primary owner: Swati Ahuja (54%)
• .../mcp/test_answer_calibration.py — 4 commits/90d, 3 dependents · primary owner: Raghav Chamadiya (64%)

1 more

• .../mcp_server/tool_symbol.py — 11 commits/90d, 7 dependents · primary owner: Swati Ahuja (53%)

🔗 Hidden coupling (2 files)

• .../mcp_server/tool_symbol.py co-changes with these files (not in this PR):
  • .../mcp_server/tool_search.py (7× — 🟢 routine)
  • .../mcp_server/tool_overview.py (6× — 🟢 routine)
  • .../mcp_server/tool_why.py (5× — 🟢 routine)
• .../tool_answer/answer.py co-changes with these files (not in this PR):
  • .../tool_answer/config.py (6× — 🟢 routine)
  • .../tool_answer/symbols.py (5× — 🟢 routine)

💀 Dead code (1 finding)

• 💀 .../tool_answer/answer.py _json_default (confidence 0.65)

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