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Configuring Built-in Tools

This guide provides instructions for enabling and configuring the built-in tools provided by the Solace Agent Mesh (SAM) framework.

Overview​

Built-in tools are pre-packaged functionalities that can be granted to agents without requiring custom Python code. These tools address common operations such as file management, data analysis, web requests, and multi-modal generation.

The Solace Agent Mesh framework manages these tools through a central tool_registry, which is responsible for loading the tools, generating instructional prompts for the Large Language Model (LLM), and handling their execution in a consistent manner.

Configuration Methods​

Tool configuration is managed within the tools list in an agent's app_config block in the corresponding YAML configuration file.

For efficient configuration, built-in tools are organized into logical groups. An entire group of related tools can be enabled with a single entry. This is the recommended approach for standard functionalities.

  • tool_type: builtin-group
  • group_name: The unique identifier for the tool category.

Example:

# In your agent's app_config:
tools:
  - tool_type: builtin-group
    group_name: "artifact_management"
  - tool_type: builtin-group
    group_name: "data_analysis"

Method 2: Enabling Individual Tools​

For more granular control over an agent's capabilities, specific tools can be enabled individually.

  • tool_type: builtin
  • tool_name: The unique, registered name of the tool.

Example:

# In your agent's app_config:
tools:
  - tool_type: builtin
    tool_name: "web_request"
  - tool_type: builtin
    tool_name: "time_delay"
Note

The Solace Agent Mesh framework automatically handles duplicate tool registrations. If a tool group is enabled and a tool from that group is also listed individually, the tool is only loaded once.

Available Tool Groups and Tools​

The following sections detail the available tool groups and the individual tools they contain.

Artifact Management​

Group Name: artifact_management

Description: Tools for creating, loading, and managing file artifacts.

Individual Tools:

  • create_artifact
  • append_to_artifact
  • list_artifacts
  • load_artifact
  • signal_artifact_for_return
  • apply_embed_and_create_artifact
  • extract_content_from_artifact
info

For a more in-depth guide on using artifact management tools, refer to the Artifact Management documentation.

Data Analysis​

Group Name: data_analysis

Description: Tools for querying, transforming, and visualizing data.

Individual Tools:

  • query_data_with_sql
  • create_sqlite_db
  • transform_data_with_jq
  • create_chart_from_plotly_config
info

For a more in-depth guide on using Data Analysis tools, refer to the Data Analysis Tools documentation.

Web​

Group Name: web

Description: Tools for interacting with web resources.

Individual Tools:

  • web_request

Audio​

Group Name: audio

Description: Tools for generating and transcribing audio content.

Individual Tools:

  • text_to_speech
  • multi_speaker_text_to_speech
  • transcribe_audio

Image​

Group Name: image

Description: Tools for generating and analyzing images.

Individual Tools:

  • create_image_from_description
  • describe_image
  • edit_image_with_gemini
  • describe_audio

General​

Group Name: general

Description: General-purpose utility tools.

Individual Tools:

  • convert_file_to_markdown
  • mermaid_diagram_generator

Complete Configuration Example​

Below is a comprehensive example of a well-formed app_config that uses the unified method to enable a mix of tool groups and individual tools.

# In your agent's YAML file:
app_config:
  namespace: "myorg/dev"
  agent_name: "DataAndWebAgent"
  model: "gemini-1.5-pro"
  instruction: "You are an agent that can analyze data and browse the web."

  # --- Unified Tool Configuration ---
  tools:
    # Enable a group of tools
    - tool_type: builtin-group
      group_name: "data_analysis"

    # Enable another group
    - tool_type: builtin-group
      group_name: "artifact_management"

    # Enable a single, specific tool
    - tool_type: builtin
      tool_name: "web_request"

    # Enable a custom Python tool
    - tool_type: python
      component_module: "my_company.tools.custom_calculators"
      function_name: "calculate_roi"

  # ... other service configurations (session_service, artifact_service, etc.)