Add tool name aliases to handle model hallucinations ('Desire Paths' approach)

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Feb 2, 2026 by foot Closed Feb 2, 2026

Problem

Models sometimes get MCP tool names wrong, even when the correct names are loaded into context. For example, a model might try to call web instead of web-search or web-fetch.

Proposed Solution

Implement tool name aliasing, inspired by Steve Yegge's "Desire Paths" design approach (blog post). The idea is to implement whatever agents are "hallucinating" they can do, making their guesses increasingly accurate over time.

Concrete examples:

  • webweb-search or web-fetch
  • Other common misspellings/shortenings of tool names

Additional Idea

We could potentially drive these aliases automatically from usage data:

  • Create a Metabase report tracking failed tool calls where the model used an incorrect name
  • Use that data to automatically generate aliases for commonly hallucinated tool names

This would create a feedback loop where the system learns from model mistakes and adapts accordingly.

References

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