Tools
A Tool is an atomic capability an agent's skill can call — a single, well-typed action like "search the knowledge base" or "look up an object." Tools are the lowest layer of the intelligence stack: agents are composed of skills, and skills call tools.
A tool is not a skill. The difference is responsibility:
| Skill | Tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Is | a role / responsibility | an atomic action |
| Holds | logic + acceptance evals + tool access | one typed operation |
| Decides | which tools to use, applies judgment | nothing — it just executes |
| Graded | yes (evals.yaml) | no |
A skill is the unit that's authored, owned, evaluated, and improved. A tool is plumbing the skill reaches for.
Built-in tools
Every agent runtime ships with a core toolset. Today that is:
search_knowledge— hybrid retrieval (vector + full-text) across the tenant's connected Sources.lookup_objects— fetch canonical Object records by type and filter.run_operation— invoke a typed Skill/operation with validated input.request_human_review— pause for a human decision via the review queue (HITL).- Learnings tools — read and propose Learnings captured from reviewer feedback.
- Runs tools — list and inspect prior runs for context and continuity.
And, for reaching the outside world and producing things (v1.24.0):
web_search— live web search (ranked titles, URLs, snippets).fetch_url/crawl_site— read a page, or crawl a site (same-origin BFS, capped).generate_image— create an image/graphic from a prompt; saved as an artifact.run_code— evaluate a math expression precisely (a safe calculator).create_artifact— produce a downloadable CSV, SVG chart, or doc.
These are provider-pluggable with keyless/low-cost defaults (Tavily for search, a builtin
extractor for browse, OpenAI for images, a builtin calculator for code), and degrade gracefully when
a provider key is missing. Configure them in .env and check status at Dashboard → Tools. See
Using built-in tools.
Every tool call is recorded in the run trace alongside inputs, context version, and approvals, so tool use is fully auditable.
Custom tools
Ship your own tools as part of a plugin (@vocion/sdk) — a typed function the runtime exposes to skills, with the same tracing and budget accounting as built-ins. This is how teams add domain actions (e.g. "create a deck", "post to a system of record") under their own control.
Tools vs. MCP
The MCP server exposes Vocion's own capabilities (agents, skills, objects) as tools to external clients — that's Vocion-as-a-tool-server, an outbound interface. The tools on this page are the inbound capabilities a skill calls during a run. The two are mirror images: MCP lets others call into Vocion; built-in tools let Vocion's skills act.
Roadmap
The general toolbelt — web search, URL fetch, browse/crawl, image generation, and code/calc —
shipped in v1.24.0 (above). Still ahead: arbitrary HTTP, a sandboxed code runtime
(builtin run_code is a safe calculator today; an E2B-backed sandbox is the opt-in path), and an
outbound MCP client so skills can call external MCP servers.
Next
- Skills — the role that calls tools
- Agents — composed of skills
- Writing a plugin — ship a custom tool
- MCP server — expose Vocion's capabilities as tools to other clients