Your product search tool queries an external catalog API and returns matching items. In production, you…

Question

Your product search tool queries an external catalog API and returns matching items. In production, you observe the agent frequently retries searches immediately after receiving zero results, treating “no matches found” as a failure requiring retry. The external API returns HTTP 200 with an empty results array – a valid response. How should you restructure the tool’s result to help the agent correctly interpret empty result sets?

Accepted Answer

D. Return a structured result with a success boolean and results array, reserving isError: true for actual execution failures only.

Answer

A. Add a suggestions field containing alternative search strategies when results are empty, helping guide the agent toward more productive follow-up queries.

Answer

B. Return a natural language string describing the outcome, allowing the agent to interpret the result contextually based on the message content.

Answer

C. Return a result object with isError: true and a message explaining no products matched.

Question 22