Expose only the tools the agent needs
Expón solo las herramientas que el agente necesita
Scope tools by domain and give each one a clear, single purpose with structured results. Do not overwhelm an agent with hundreds of operations.
Why
Scoping tools by domain improves reliability; dumping 300 operations on one agent degrades it (Speakeasy Toolability). Anthropic's production guidance is explicit: build a few thoughtful tools targeting specific high-impact workflows. Tools occupy space in the context window — every tool listed is a choice the model must evaluate, and a cluttered toolset degrades selection accuracy and increases the chance of misdirected calls.
Do
Provide domain-scoped toolsets.
Don't
Ship one mega-toolset for every agent.
Artifact
Config artifact: expose domain-scoped toolsets (for example orders, billing) rather than one toolset of 300 operations. Gate which set an agent receives by its scopes.
Citations
- [01]Speakeasy — Designing Agent Experience ↗
Toolability: scoping tools by domain and giving each a clear single purpose improves agent reliability; exposing too many operations degrades selection accuracy
- [02]Anthropic — Building Effective AI Agents ↗
Build a few thoughtful tools targeting specific high-impact workflows; a large, poorly-scoped toolset degrades agent decision quality and increases latency
- [03]Anthropic — Writing Effective Tools for AI Agents ↗
Tools are prominent in Claude's context window; developers should be conscious about how they design tools to maximize context efficiency and minimize misdirected calls