Eventually all articles should have a short description:
by directly using this template, in which case the short description will be unique to the article
transcluded in another template, such as a disambiguation template, where a generic short description is adequate for a large class of pages
where the short description is assembled from data in an infobox
Automatically generated descriptions within templates should set the second parameter as noreplace so they do not override any short descriptions specifically added to the transcluding article.
Short descriptions are not normally needed for non-article pages, such as redirects, but can be added if useful.
If the article title alone is sufficient to ensure reliable identification of the desired article, a null value of {{Short description|none}} may be used.
Short descriptions do not necessarily serve the same function as the Wikidata description for an item and they do not have to be the same, but some overlap is expected in many cases. Some Wikidata descriptions may be unsuitable, and if imported must be checked for relevance, accuracy and fitness for purpose. Responsibility for such imports lies with the importer. (See also Wikidata:Help:Description.)