Tool Persona Lookup
Category: Persona System · Tier: All
Look up a complete persona: cognitive traits, Schwartz values, accessibility traits and demographics. Renders as an interactive profile with a meter per trait.
When to Use
Use this when you want the whole persona. persona_values_lookup returns only the motivational layer — Schwartz values, SDT needs, Maslow level — in a nested {value, meaning} shape that reads well as prose. persona_lookup returns the flat name-to-number maps the trait meters render, alongside the description and demographics, so you get the profile a person can actually look at.
Reach for it before an empathy audit or a cognitive journey, to see who you are about to simulate.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| persona | string | Yes | Persona name (e.g., 'first-timer', 'power-user', 'cognitive-adhd') |
Call list_cognitive_personas for the authoritative roster. An unknown name returns an error carrying that hint rather than an empty profile.
Example
Look up the cognitive-adhd persona
Returns name, description, demographics, traits (26 cognitive traits, 0–1),
values (10 Schwartz values, 0–1) and accessibility_traits.
Output
In a host that supports MCP Apps the result renders as a profile view: each trait becomes a labelled meter on its own colour ramp — cognitive traits, values, and accessibility traits are scaled separately because they measure different things. Trait names carry a tooltip describing what the trait means. Hosts without that support receive the same JSON and lose nothing but the meters.
Tips
- Traits are 0–1 with 5 behavioural levels each; 0.5 is not "average user", it is the midpoint of that trait's own scale.
- Accessibility traits drive the susceptibility weights the empathy audit scores with, so a persona's profile explains its audit score.
- Personas you create yourself resolve here too, not only the built-in roster.
Research
- Schwartz Universal Values — Theory of basic human values
- Navarro et al. — Bayesian modeling of individual cognitive differences
Related
- persona_values_lookup — the motivational layer alone, with meanings
- persona_trait_lookup — one trait, its levels and behaviours
- empathy_audit — runs a site as one of these personas
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