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Tool Design & Schema — CCAR-F Practice Question

A representative Claude Certified Architect - Foundations (CCAR-F) exam question on Tool Design & Schema. Work through it below, then read why each option is right or wrong.

This question is part of the free Claude Certified Architect - Foundations practice test.

Short answer

The correct answer is C. Split it into narrow, intent-revealing tools with typed parameters, validation, and explicit error contracts.

Narrow tools reduce ambiguity and make authorization and validation specific to each operation. A broad free-form mutation surface is difficult to reason about safely.

The Question

A tool named `manage_account` accepts a free-form action string and a large untyped payload. Claude frequently forms unsafe calls. What redesign is best?

AAdd more optional fields so the single tool can cover every request variant that agents send

BMake the tool description much longer while keeping the same broad interface and parameters

CSplit it into narrow, intent-revealing tools with typed parameters, validation, and explicit error contractsCorrect

DAllow arbitrary shell commands through the tool instead of a fixed set of named operations

Why C is correct

Narrow tools reduce ambiguity and make authorization and validation specific to each operation. A broad free-form mutation surface is difficult to reason about safely.

Why the other options are wrong

Option A: Add more optional fields so the single tool can cover every request variant that agents send

Option A does not satisfy the requirement in the scenario. Review the explanation above: the correct choice (C) is the only one that fully meets every constraint stated in the question.

Option B: Make the tool description much longer while keeping the same broad interface and parameters

Option B does not satisfy the requirement in the scenario. Review the explanation above: the correct choice (C) is the only one that fully meets every constraint stated in the question.

Option D: Allow arbitrary shell commands through the tool instead of a fixed set of named operations

Option D does not satisfy the requirement in the scenario. Review the explanation above: the correct choice (C) is the only one that fully meets every constraint stated in the question.

Key idea: Tool Design & Schema

Narrow tools reduce ambiguity and make authorization and validation specific to each operation. A broad free-form mutation surface is difficult to reason about safely. On the CCAR-F exam, questions in the "Tool Design and MCP Integration" domain test whether you can map a scenario's constraints to the right choice. Read the requirement carefully, eliminate options that violate any single constraint, and pick the one that satisfies all of them with the least operational overhead.

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