• Understand what the resource is about.
• Distinguish summary text from naming, intent, and interpretive framing.
• Reduce ambiguity when page content, title, or surrounding context is insufficient.
• Support clear interpretation across site, page, section, resource, and entity metadata.

• Concise — brief enough to support immediate understanding.
• Declarative — directly states what the resource is.
• Non-marketing — avoids promotional language that does not add semantic value.
• Self-contained — understandable without requiring the rest of the page.
• Aligned — consistent with the declared intent and interpretiveFrame when present.

• String form — a concise, single-paragraph natural-language summary. Use when one clear description is sufficient.
• Object form — a structured description object with at least short. Use when expanded detail, alternate variants, language, or update metadata is useful.

In object form, short serves the same primary summary role as the lean string form.

• description — recommended; when present, should be either a clear string or a structured object.
• short — required only when description is expressed as an object.

Recommended object fields include:

• long — expanded descriptive narrative with additional detail, context, or background.
• alt — alternate descriptions, such as simplified, accessibility-focused, or domain-specific variants.
• interpretiveFrame — framing statement that helps agents contextualize the description.
• language — language code for the description block.
• lastUpdated — date the description text was last updated or reviewed.

• AI agents should treat description as the declared summary of the resource.
• For string form, the string itself serves as the short description.
• For object form, agents should treat short as the primary summary and long as expanded context when present.
• Agents should not treat a missing description as a lack of authority; absence indicates reduced clarity, not a trust failure.
• Empty, misleading, overly promotional, or internally inconsistent descriptions should be treated as non-ideal clarity conditions.

Description supports declared clarity. It should not be interpreted as a ranking claim, trust signal, or marketing summary.

• name — labels the resource; description summarizes what it is.
• intent — explains why the resource exists or how it should be used.
• interpretiveFrame — guides contextual interpretation.
• canonical — may identify the preferred authoritative URL representation of the resource being described.
• site, page, and section — may each carry their own description when useful.

Do not confuse description with name, intent, or interpretiveFrame. name labels the resource; description summarizes what it is; intent explains why it exists or how it should be used; interpretiveFrame guides contextual interpretation.

{
  "description": "A concise technical overview of the MSP-1 semantic protocol structure."
}

Structured description:

{
  "description": {
    "short": "A concise technical overview of the MSP-1 semantic protocol structure.",
    "long": "This resource explains the core structure, purpose, and implementation logic of the MSP-1 semantic protocol."
  }
}

Page-level description:

{
  "page": {
    "id": "lighting-guide",
    "description": "A practical guide explaining how to use natural and artificial light for portrait photography."
  }
}

• It expresses description as either a clear string or a structured object with short.
• It directly and accurately summarizes the resource.
• It avoids promotional language that does not add semantic value.
• It aligns with declared intent and interpretiveFrame when those terms are present.
• It does not treat description as a ranking claim, authority claim, or trust signal.