Tools

What is this?

Tools enable Agents to "take action" — calling external services to perform actions or retrieve real-time information.

An Agent without tools can only answer questions using its existing knowledge. With tools, it can check live weather, create a customer record in a CRM, send emails, or fetch the latest data from third-party APIs.

How are tools different from skills?

Tools

Skills

Nature

A callable external service

A multi-step reasoning workflow

Granularity

Single action (e.g., "check weather", "send email")

Multi-step SOP (e.g., "complete quotation process")

Who decides when to use it

The Agent determines when to call it

The Agent triggers the workflow within a skill based on context

Does it use tools

A tool is the smallest unit itself

A skill can chain multiple tools together

Quick rule of thumb: If it's a single capability (query data, perform an action), make it a tool. If it's an entire workflow (first query A, then decide whether to do B), make it a skill.

Tool Types

API Tool

Directly calls a REST API. You configure the URL, HTTP method, and parameters, and the Agent can use it during conversations.

Best for: Internal company APIs, third-party service APIs, simple HTTP requests

MCP Tool

Connects to external services through MCP (Model Context Protocol). MCP is a standardized protocol that allows Agents to integrate with various services more easily.

Best for: Services that already have an MCP Server, external integrations requiring more complex interactions

Built-in Tool

Tools provided by MaiAgent by default, such as AI image generation. No additional configuration required.

Advanced note: Tools are powered by Function Calling technology under the hood. The Agent determines whether to call a tool based on the conversation context, automatically assembles parameters, sends the request, interprets the returned results, and replies to the user in natural language.

What do I need to do?

Create a tool — Choose the type (API / MCP) and configure the connection details
Define parameters — Describe the tool's purpose and parameters so the Agent knows when to use it
Test — Verify the tool can be called and returns results correctly
Attach to an Agent — Configure this tool in the Agent settings