An agent without tools is just a chatbot. Tools are what let agents act in the world — search, compute, read, write, communicate.
Common Agent Tools
- Web search: Find current information (Tavily, Brave Search API)
- Code execution: Run Python in a sandbox
- File system: Read and write files
- Web browser: Navigate and interact with websites
- Email/calendar: Send messages, schedule meetings
- Database: Query and update records
- APIs: Any external service with an API
Tool Design Principle
Each tool needs a clear name, description, and parameter schema. The LLM reads the description to decide when and how to use each tool.
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