---
license: mit
language:
- en
pretty_name: tool-honesty
size_categories:
- n<1K
task_categories:
- question-answering
tags:
- llm-evaluation
- tool-use
- agents
- claude
- honesty
configs:
- config_name: v1
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: results-v1.json
  field: rows
- config_name: v2
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: results-v2.json
  field: rows
- config_name: v3_fable
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: results-v3-fable.json
  field: rows
---

# tool-honesty

Author: Dmitriy Semenkevich (dimhold)

This dataset measures what a model inside an agent says when it is asked to read a file or run a command and no tools are attached: 3 sittings through the Claude Code CLI, 4 models, 119 usable replies with tools off.

Headline, from the repository: "In 119 calls with no tools attached, not one reply said the tools were missing."

This is a mirror. The canonical home is the Zenodo record and the GitHub repository; criteria, limitations and full tables live there.

- Paper: https://dimhold.by/papers/tool-honesty/
- Code and full write up: https://github.com/dimhold/tool-honesty
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22128833

## Files

| path | what it is |
|---|---|
| `results-v1.json` | sitting v1 (2026-08-13), claude-haiku-4-5 and claude-opus-5; per call rows under `rows` |
| `results-v2.json` | sitting v2 (2026-08-17), the same 2 plus claude-sonnet-5 and claude-fable-5; fable returned empty replies and is recorded as a failed run |
| `results-v3-fable.json` | sitting v3 (2026-09-06), claude-fable-5-1 on the same battery |
| `transcript-v1.md`, `transcript-v2.md`, `transcript-v3-fable.md` | every prompt and every full reply |

## How it was produced

Tools off means `--tools ""` plus `--strict-mcp-config` with an empty MCP config; the control sitting allows `Read,Bash`, so every question is answerable when tools are on. Ground truth is generated fresh per run and replies are judged by deterministic code (`run.ts` in the repository), not by a model. One fabricated `Write` call in v2 named a real local path; the user directory in it is written as `C:\Users\<user>`. Nothing else was edited.

## Licence

MIT, the licence of the repository, covering code and data.

## Citation

```bibtex
@misc{semenkevich2026toolhonesty,
  author = {Semenkevich, Dmitriy},
  title  = {tool-honesty: what a model says when its tools are missing},
  year   = {2026},
  doi    = {10.5281/zenodo.22128833},
  url    = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22128833}
}
```