Vocion
docs/guides/using-built-in-tools.md

Using built-in tools

Every Vocion agent ships with built-in tools. Alongside the core toolset (search_knowledge, lookup_objects, run_operation, …), vocion-v0.6.0 adds a general toolbelt: web search, browse (fetch + crawl), image generation, a safe calculator, and artifact creation. This guide shows how to enable providers and what each does.

1. Pick providers (or use the defaults)

Defaults work with minimal setup. Set these in your .env.local:

# Web search — default provider is Tavily
VOCION_WEBSEARCH_PROVIDER=tavily
TAVILY_API_KEY=tvly-...

# Browse — builtin needs no key; switch to Firecrawl for JS-heavy pages
VOCION_BROWSE_PROVIDER=builtin
# FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-...

# Image generation — OpenAI gpt-image-1 (reuses OPENAI_API_KEY)
VOCION_IMAGE_PROVIDER=openai

# Code/calc — builtin safe calculator needs no key
VOCION_CODE_PROVIDER=builtin
# E2B_API_KEY=...   # only if you switch to the sandbox provider

Only web search needs a new key for full functionality (TAVILY_API_KEY). Browse, code, and artifacts work with no key; image generation reuses the OpenAI key you already set for embeddings.

2. See status in the dashboard

Open Dashboard → Capabilities → Tools. Each tool shows its active provider and whether its key is present ("Ready" vs "Needs key").

3. Use them from an agent

With the deepagents runtime enabled (VOCION_AGENT_RUNTIME=deepagents), the model calls tools automatically:

  • "What did our competitor announce this week?" → web_search → fetch_url on the top result.
  • "Summarize this page: https://…" → fetch_url.
  • "Draft a launch graphic for the spring promo" → generate_image → returns a /artifacts/...png URL.
  • "What's 18% of last month's $42,380 spend?" → run_code (exact arithmetic).
  • "Export these accounts to CSV" → create_artifact(kind: csv) → returns a download URL.

4. Call them over MCP

The same tools are exposed via the MCP server. See reference/mcp.md.

Notes

  • Graceful degradation: if a provider key is missing, the tool returns a clear message so the agent can fall back to search_knowledge or ask the user — it won't crash the turn.
  • Safety: builtin run_code evaluates math expressions only (allowlisted functions/constants, no arbitrary code). Use VOCION_CODE_PROVIDER=e2b for sandboxed full code execution.
  • Artifacts: files are written to VOCION_ARTIFACTS_DIR (default public/artifacts, served at /artifacts). For serverless/multi-instance deploys, point it at a shared volume or object store.
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