fix(mcp-catalog): keep an unsized project count out of context help

crates/tracedecay-cli/tests/core_cli_suite/cli_boundary.rs

@@ -33,6 +33,32 @@ fn shipped_binary_stops_quietly_when_a_pipeline_reader_exits() {
     );
 }
 
+/// Help runs without a project graph, so it describes the tool without a
+/// node count or call budget it cannot compute.
+#[test]
+fn context_help_describes_the_tool_without_a_project_size() {
+    let home = tempfile::tempdir().expect("isolated home");
+    let output = Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_tracedecay"))
+        .args(["tool", "context", "--help"])
+        .env("HOME", home.path())
+        .env("TRACEDECAY_HOME", home.path().join(".tracedecay"))
+        .env("HOTPATH_METRICS_SERVER_OFF", "true")
+        .output()
+        .expect("run tool help");
+
+    assert!(output.status.success(), "{output:?}");
+    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
+    let description = stdout.lines().nth(2).expect("description line");
+    assert_eq!(
+        description,
+        "Build an AI-ready context for a task description. Returns relevant symbols, \
+         relationships, up to three untracked project memory matches when available, and \
+         optionally code snippets. Use it for broad questions that need relationship synthesis \
+         across the code graph.",
+        "{stdout}"
+    );
+}
+
 #[cfg(not(feature = "hotpath"))]
 #[test]
 fn production_feature_profile_ignores_hotpath_environment() {

crates/tracedecay-mcp-catalog/src/definitions.rs

@@ -172,14 +172,18 @@ pub fn explore_call_budget(total_nodes: u64) -> u8 {
     }
 }
 
+/// The `tracedecay_context` description for surfaces that have no project
+/// graph to size, such as `tracedecay tool context --help`.
+const CONTEXT_DESCRIPTION: &str = "Build an AI-ready context for a task description. Returns \
+     relevant symbols, relationships, up to three untracked project memory matches when \
+     available, and optionally code snippets. Use it for broad questions that need \
+     relationship synthesis across the code graph.";
+
 /// Generates the `tracedecay_context` description with a dynamic call budget.
 pub fn context_description(node_count: u64, budget: u8) -> String {
     format!(
-        "Build an AI-ready context for a task description. Returns relevant symbols, \
-         relationships, up to three untracked project memory matches when available, \
-         and optionally code snippets. Use it for broad questions that need \
-         relationship synthesis across the code graph. This project ({node_count} nodes) \
-         allows {budget} broad context calls."
+        "{CONTEXT_DESCRIPTION} This project ({node_count} nodes) allows {budget} broad \
+         context calls."
     )
 }
 
@@ -248,11 +252,8 @@ pub fn get_tool_definitions_with_warming_budget(
 /// The `tracedecay_context` description while the project graph is still warming.
 pub fn context_warming_description(budget: u8) -> String {
     format!(
-        "Build an AI-ready context for a task description. Returns relevant symbols, \
-         relationships, up to three untracked project memory matches when available, \
-         and optionally code snippets. Use it for broad questions that need \
-         relationship synthesis across the code graph. The graph is still warming, and \
-         {budget} broad context calls are available."
+        "{CONTEXT_DESCRIPTION} The graph is still warming, and {budget} broad context calls \
+         are available."
     )
 }
 

crates/tracedecay-mcp-catalog/src/definitions/graph.rs

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 use serde_json::Value;
 
-use super::{context_description, def, def_always_load};
+use super::{CONTEXT_DESCRIPTION, def, def_always_load};
 use crate::ToolDefinition;
 
 // ── alwaysLoad tools (loaded into the model prompt immediately) ─────────
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ pub(super) fn def_context(input_schema: Value) -> ToolDefinition {
     def_always_load(
         "tracedecay_context",
         "Task Context",
-        &context_description(0, 3),
+        CONTEXT_DESCRIPTION,
         input_schema,
     )
 }