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Adding Tools to Agents

In this lesson, we’ll learn how to enhance your agents by adding tools. Tools allow agents to perform specific actions beyond just generating text, making them much more useful for real-world tasks.

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What You’ll Learn

By the end of this lesson, you’ll understand:

• What agent tools are and why they’re useful
• How to create simple tools for your agents
• How to integrate tools with your agents
• Best practices for tool design

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Understanding Agent Tools

Tools give your agents the ability to:

• Perform calculations
• Access specific information
• Interact with external systems
• Generate different types of content

pip install praisonaiagents duckduckgo-search

export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_key

from praisonaiagents import Agent
from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

# 1. Define the tool
def internet_search_tool(query: str):
    results = []
    ddgs = DDGS()
    for result in ddgs.text(keywords=query, max_results=5):
        results.append({
            "title": result.get("title", ""),
            "url": result.get("href", ""),
            "snippet": result.get("body", "")
        })
    return results

# 2. Assign the tool to an agent
search_agent = Agent(
    instructions="Perform internet searches to collect relevant information.",
    tools=[internet_search_tool] # <--- Tool Assignment
)

# 3. Start Agent
search_agent.start("Search about AI job trends in 2025")

python app.py

pip install praisonaiagents duckduckgo-search

export OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_key

from praisonaiagents import Agent
from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

# 1. Define the tool
def internet_search_tool(query: str):
    results = []
    ddgs = DDGS()
    for result in ddgs.text(keywords=query, max_results=5):
        results.append({
            "title": result.get("title", ""),
            "url": result.get("href", ""),
            "snippet": result.get("body", "")
        })
    return results

# 2. Assign the tool to an agent
search_agent = Agent(
    instructions="Perform internet searches to collect relevant information.",
    tools=[internet_search_tool] # <--- Tool Assignment
)

# 3. Start Agent
search_agent.start("Search about AI job trends in 2025")

python app.py

pip install praisonai duckduckgo_search

from duckduckgo_search import DDGS
from typing import List, Dict

# 1. Tool
def internet_search_tool(query: str) -> List[Dict]:
    """
    Perform Internet Search
    """
    results = []
    ddgs = DDGS()
    for result in ddgs.text(keywords=query, max_results=5):
        results.append({
            "title": result.get("title", ""),
            "url": result.get("href", ""),
            "snippet": result.get("body", "")
        })
    return results  

framework: praisonai
topic: create movie script about cat in mars
roles:
  scriptwriter:
    backstory: Expert in dialogue and script structure, translating concepts into
      scripts.
    goal: Write a movie script about a cat in Mars
    role: Scriptwriter
    tools:
      - internet_search_tool # <-- Tool assigned to Agent here
    tasks:
      scriptwriting_task:
        description: Turn the story concept into a production-ready movie script,
          including dialogue and scene details.
        expected_output: Final movie script with dialogue and scene details.

praisonai agents.yaml

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Creating Custom Tool

from duckduckgo_search import DDGS

def internet_search_tool(query: str):
    results = []
    ddgs = DDGS()
    for result in ddgs.text(keywords=query, max_results=5):
        results.append({
            "title": result.get("title", ""),
            "url": result.get("href", ""),
            "snippet": result.get("body", "")
        })
    return results

    data_agent = Agent(
        instructions="Search about AI job trends in 2025",
        tools=[internet_search_tool], # <-- Tool Assignment
    )

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When Does the Agent Use Tools?

The agent decides when to use tools based on:

1. The nature of the user’s request
2. The tools available to it
3. The instructions you’ve provided

If your agent isn’t using tools when expected, you might need to:

• Make your instructions more explicit about when to use tools
• Provide more descriptive tool definitions
• Ensure the tools are appropriate for the task

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Tool Best Practices

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Real-World Tool Examples

In production systems, you might create tools for:

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Advanced Tool Concepts

As you become more comfortable with tools, you can explore:

• Tools that call other tools
• Tools with complex parameters
• Tools that maintain state
• Dynamically generated tools

In the next lesson, we’ll explore how to create a multi-agent system for more complex tasks.