Agent tools
The per-tool permissions an agent carries beyond text generation — the tool categories, the web search modes, and bound integrations and workflows.
4 min read
Tools are what an agent can do beyond producing text. The model decides which tool to call from the list the agent's author has granted; Tale runs the tool, hands the result back, and the model continues. The agent's Tools tab is that list — a searchable catalog of per-tool switches, grouped into category cards.
Granting tools one by one
Check a tool and the agent can call it from the next request; uncheck it and the agent forgets it exists. Search tools… filters the catalog by name or category, each tool row carries a one-line description of what it grants, and a category's header checkbox enables the whole group at once — the count beside it shows how many of the group's tools are on. The categories map to the platform's surfaces: Contacts, Products, Vendors, and Websites expose read and update tools over structured records; Conversations and Discussions let the agent read and reply; Knowledge covers document search and writing; Tasks & projects includes the agent's own to-do list; Workflows lets it create and run workflows; Files covers the agent's file operations; System holds Run code, Ask a human, and the other runtime tools. Grant the smallest set that does the job — every enabled tool widens what the agent can read or change on your behalf.
Run code, in the System group, is the widest of these: it runs Python, Node, or bash in the chat's own sandbox, over the files the chat already holds rather than a blank box. A call runs a snippet directly, runs a script the agent staged under /user/code/, or installs packages only — declared packages install first and persist for the rest of the turn, and whatever the run writes under /user/output/ comes back as a file in the chat. Files and folders you pin with @ arrive in that sandbox under /user/uploads/, so the code opens the real bytes, not a retrieval snippet.
Configuring web search
Web search at the top of the tab is a mode, not a checkbox: Off, Tool (the agent searches on demand), Context (relevant web results are injected into every response), or Both. Web search only searches content from websites added to your organization — it is not an open crawl; manage the sources under Websites.
Binding integrations and workflows
Below the catalog, Bound integrations and Bound workflows attach specific integrations or workflows as dedicated tools, so the agent can call them without naming the integration or the workflow id itself. Bind the ones the agent's job depends on; connected MCP servers reach the agent the same way, through the org's integrations.
How tool calls render
Tool calls appear in the chat as collapsed cards between the user's message and the reply. Expanding a card reveals the tool name, the inputs the model emitted, and the result Tale returned. A failed tool call shows the error; the model usually retries with a different shape on the next turn.
When to reach for it
| Use Tools when… | Use Knowledge when… |
|---|---|
| The agent must act — query, update, run, reply | The agent must cite documents it retrieved |
| The data is structured records or live systems | The data is uploaded or crawled content |
Where this fits
Tools widen what an agent can do; they also widen the trust boundary, since the agent can now read, write, or call things on the user's behalf. Pair this page with Run-code policy if the agent will execute code. The agent's instructions stay the place where the policy lives; the Tools tab is the place where the surface lives.