Search explanations describe parts the search didn't run

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
57/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
typescript
Domain
backend-api-design

Research direction

Start with the time-series agent output in agent.ts:53-72, then follow how search.ts:910-948 builds the executed request and how structured.ts:462-469 and formatters.ts:209-210 return the explanation. Compare the explanation with the request that actually ran, including fields and time range; done means callers are not given an explanation that claims omitted search parts were executed.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

includeExplanation on search_errors and the other runSearchEvents tools returns the embedded agent's own explanation text unchanged. It can describe grouping, fields, or a time range that the executed request does not contain, so callers trust results that don't match what they asked for.

Reported in Sentry MCP user feedback (MCP-SERVER-GN4) from an automated caller:

  • Grouped time series: an hourly series asked for grouping by project plus distinct users. The explanation said both were returned. executedSearch.fields was only count(), and the output was one ungrouped series. The span for that call was not sampled, so this case is from the feedback text only.
  • Time range: the explanation described a fixed window while executedSearch.timeRange was statsPeriod with null start/end. This one is verified in a trace and fixed in #2146.

What the code does (main @ 737f183):

  • The agent's time-series output is one yAxis plus interval, with no group-by or top-N field (agent.ts:53-72). The handler sends one yAxis to events-timeseries (search.ts:1083-1104) and reports fields: [yAxis] (structured.ts:469). Any grouping or second aggregate the agent planned is dropped without a note.
  • explanation is set from parsed.explanation (search.ts:932) and passed through unchanged (structured.ts:462-465, formatters.ts:209-210). The handler later overrides the time range, fields, sort, or query (search.ts:910-948), but never compares the explanation with what ran.

Related: #2017 adds explicit multi-axis series for traces, logs, and metrics, not errors and not grouped series. #2139 and #2146 fix time-range drops, not the explanation text.

via Sentry.

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