---
title: Tools · Cloudflare Agents docs
description: Tools enable AI systems to interact with external services and perform actions. They provide a structured way for agents and workflows to invoke APIs, manipulate data, and integrate with external systems. Tools form the bridge between AI decision-making capabilities and real-world actions.
lastUpdated: 2025-02-28T20:23:07.000Z
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---

### What are tools?

Tools enable AI systems to interact with external services and perform actions. They provide a structured way for agents and workflows to invoke APIs, manipulate data, and integrate with external systems. Tools form the bridge between AI decision-making capabilities and real-world actions.

### Understanding tools

In an AI system, tools are typically implemented as function calls that the AI can use to accomplish specific tasks. For example, a travel booking agent might have tools for:

* Searching flight availability
* Checking hotel rates
* Processing payments
* Sending confirmation emails

Each tool has a defined interface specifying its inputs, outputs, and expected behavior. This allows the AI system to understand when and how to use each tool appropriately.

### Common tool patterns

#### API integration tools

The most common type of tools are those that wrap external APIs. These tools handle the complexity of API authentication, request formatting, and response parsing, presenting a clean interface to the AI system.

#### Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/introduction) provides a standardized way to define and interact with tools. Think of it as an abstraction on top of APIs designed for LLMs to interact with external resources. MCP defines a consistent interface for:

* **Tool Discovery**: Systems can dynamically discover available tools
* **Parameter Validation**: Tools specify their input requirements using JSON Schema
* **Error Handling**: Standardized error reporting and recovery
* **State Management**: Tools can maintain state across invocations

#### Data processing tools

Tools that handle data transformation and analysis are essential for many AI workflows. These might include:

* CSV parsing and analysis
* Image processing
* Text extraction
* Data validation
