Tool Use

Tool use is the capability of a language model to invoke external functions, APIs, or services as part of producing a response.

What is Tool Use?

Tool use turns an LLM from a text generator into a controller of external systems. The model is given a list of tools with names, parameters, and descriptions; at inference time it can choose to emit a structured tool call rather than free text. The host system executes the call, returns the result, and lets the model continue. Tool use is the foundation of agentic AI, retrieval grounded in private APIs, and any workflow where the model needs fresh or private data.

How does Tool Use apply to enterprise AI?

Enterprise tool use enables AI agents to query CRMs, search knowledge bases, look up policies, draft tickets, send emails, and trigger workflows. Each tool definition is a security boundary and must be scoped, logged, and rate-limited.