Adding Tools to Agents

Enhancing your agents with specialized capabilities

Tools give agents superpowers - the ability to search the web, do calculations, access APIs, and more.

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Quick Start

1. Install Dependencies

   pip install praisonaiagents duckduckgo-search
   
2. Create a Tool

   Any Python function can be a tool:

   from duckduckgo_search import DDGS
   
   def search_web(query: str) -> str:
       """Search the web for information"""
       results = DDGS().text(query, max_results=3)
       return str(results)
   
3. Add Tool to Agent

   from praisonaiagents import Agent
   
   agent = Agent(
       instructions="Search and summarize information",
       tools=[search_web]  # Add your tool here
   )
   
   agent.start("Search for AI trends in 2025")
   

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How Tools Work

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Creating Tools

Simple Tool

def calculate(expression: str) -> str:
    """Calculate a math expression"""
    try:
        return str(eval(expression))
    except:
        return "Error: Invalid expression"

Tool with Multiple Parameters

def convert_temperature(value: float, from_unit: str, to_unit: str) -> str:
    """Convert temperature between Celsius and Fahrenheit"""
    if from_unit == "C" and to_unit == "F":
        return f"{value * 9/5 + 32}°F"
    elif from_unit == "F" and to_unit == "C":
        return f"{(value - 32) * 5/9}°C"
    return "Unknown conversion"

Web Search Tool

from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

def search_web(query: str) -> str:
    """Search the web for information"""
    results = []
    for r in DDGS().text(query, max_results=5):
        results.append(f"- {r['title']}: {r['body']}")
    return "\n".join(results)

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Complete Example

from praisonaiagents import Agent
from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

# Tool 1: Web search
def search_web(query: str) -> str:
    """Search the web for information"""
    results = DDGS().text(query, max_results=3)
    return str(results)

# Tool 2: Calculator
def calculate(expression: str) -> str:
    """Calculate a math expression"""
    try:
        return str(eval(expression))
    except:
        return "Error"

# Agent with multiple tools
agent = Agent(
    name="ResearchAssistant",
    instructions="Search the web and do calculations to help users",
    tools=[search_web, calculate]
)

agent.start("What is the population of Tokyo? Calculate 10% of that number.")

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Built-in Tools

PraisonAI includes ready-to-use tools:

from praisonaiagents import Agent

# Built-in web search
agent = Agent(
    instructions="Research topics",
    web=True  # Enable built-in web search
)

# Or use specific search providers
agent = Agent(
    instructions="Research topics",
    tools=["tavily", "duckduckgo"]  # Named tools
)

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Multi-Agent with Tools

from praisonaiagents import Agent, AgentTeam
from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

def search_web(query: str) -> str:
    """Search the web"""
    return str(DDGS().text(query, max_results=3))

# Researcher has the search tool
researcher = Agent(
    instructions="Search for information",
    tools=[search_web]
)

# Writer doesn't need tools
writer = Agent(
    instructions="Write summaries based on research"
)

team = AgentTeam(agents=[researcher, writer])
team.start()

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Best Practices

Add Docstrings

Describe what the tool does so the agent knows when to use it

Use Type Hints

def tool(x: str) -> str: helps the agent understand inputs

Handle Errors

Return helpful error messages instead of crashing

One Purpose

Each tool should do one thing well

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Next: Building Multi-Agent Systems

Learn how to create teams of agents that work together.