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Tool Use Concepts

This file covers the conceptual foundations of tool use with the Claude API. For language-specific code examples, see the python/, typescript/, or other language folders. For decision heuristics on which tools to expose, how to manage context in long-running agents, and caching strategy, see agent-design.md.

User-Defined Tools

Tool Definition Structure

Note: When using the Tool Runner (beta), tool schemas are generated automatically from your function signatures (Python), Zod schemas (TypeScript), annotated classes (Java), jsonschema struct tags (Go), or BaseTool subclasses (Ruby). The raw JSON schema format below is for the manual approach — including PHP's BetaRunnableTool, which wraps a run closure around a hand-written schema — or SDKs without tool runner support.

Each tool requires a name, description, and JSON Schema for its inputs:

{
  "name": "get_weather",
  "description": "Get current weather for a location",
  "input_schema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "location": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "City and state, e.g., San Francisco, CA"
      },
      "unit": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["celsius", "fahrenheit"],
        "description": "Temperature unit"
      }
    },
    "required": ["location"]
  }
}

Best practices for tool definitions:

Use clear, descriptive names (e.g., get_weather, search_database, send_email)
Write detailed descriptions — Claude uses these to decide when to use the tool. Be prescriptive about when to call it, not just what it does (e.g. "Call this when the user asks about current prices or recent events"). On recent Opus models, which reach for tools more conservatively, trigger conditions in the description give measurable lift in should-call rate.
Include descriptions for each property
Use enum for parameters with a fixed set of values
Mark truly required parameters in required; make others optional with defaults

Tool Choice Options

Control when Claude uses tools:

Value	Behavior
`{"type": "auto"}`	Claude decides whether to use tools (default)
`{"type": "any"}`	Claude must use at least one tool
`{"type": "tool", "name": "..."}`	Claude must use the specified tool
`{"type": "none"}`	Claude cannot use tools

Any tool_choice value can also include "disable_parallel_tool_use": true to force Claude to use at most one tool per response. By default, Claude may request multiple tool calls in a single response.

Tool Runner vs Manual Loop

Tool Runner (Recommended): The SDK's tool runner handles the agentic loop automatically — it calls the API, detects tool use requests, executes your tool functions, feeds results back to Claude, and repeats until Claude stops calling tools. Available in Python, TypeScript, Java, Go, Ruby, and PHP SDKs (beta). The Python SDK also provides MCP conversion helpers (anthropic.lib.tools.mcp) to convert MCP tools, prompts, and resources for use with the tool runner — see python/claude-api/tool-use.md for details.

Manual Agentic Loop: Use when you need fine-grained control over the loop (e.g., custom logging, conditional tool execution, human-in-the-loop approval). Loop until stop_reason == "end_turn", always append the full response.content to preserve tool_use blocks, and ensure each tool_result includes the matching tool_use_id.

Stop reasons for server-side tools: When using server-side tools (code execution, web search, etc.), the API runs a server-side sampling loop. If this loop reaches its default limit of 10 iterations, the response will have stop_reason: "pause_turn". To continue, re-send the user message and assistant response and make another API request — the server will resume where it left off. Do NOT add an extra user message like "Continue." — the API detects the trailing server_tool_use block and knows to resume automatically.

# Handle pause_turn in your agentic loop
if response.stop_reason == "pause_turn":
    messages = [
        {"role": "user", "content": user_query},
        {"role": "assistant", "content": response.content},
    ]
    # Make another API request — server resumes automatically
    response = client.messages.create(
        model="{{OPUS_ID}}", messages=messages, tools=tools
    )

Set a max_continuations limit (e.g., 5) to prevent infinite loops. For the full guide, see: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/handling-stop-reasons

Security: The tool runner executes your tool functions automatically whenever Claude requests them. For tools with side effects (sending emails, modifying databases, financial transactions), validate inputs within your tool functions and consider requiring confirmation for destructive operations. Use the manual agentic loop if you need human-in-the-loop approval before each tool execution.

Handling Tool Results

When Claude uses a tool, the response contains a tool_use block. You must:

Execute the tool with the provided input
Send the result back in a tool_result message
Continue the conversation

Error handling in tool results: When a tool execution fails, set "is_error": true and provide an informative error message. Claude will typically acknowledge the error and either try a different approach or ask for clarification.

Multiple tool calls: Claude can request multiple tools in a single response. Handle them all before continuing — send all results back in a single user message.

Server-Side Tools: Code Execution

The code execution tool lets Claude run code in a secure, sandboxed container. Unlike user-defined tools, server-side tools run on Anthropic's infrastructure — you don't execute anything client-side. Just include the tool definition and Claude handles the rest.

Key Facts

Runs in an isolated container (1 CPU, 5 GiB RAM, 5 GiB disk)
No internet access (fully sandboxed)
Python 3.11 with data science libraries pre-installed
Containers persist for 30 days and can be reused across requests
Free when used with web search/web fetch tools; otherwise $0.05/hour after 1,550 free hours/month per organization

Tool Definition

The tool requires no schema — just declare it in the tools array:

{
  "type": "code_execution_20260120",
  "name": "code_execution"
}

Claude automatically gains access to bash_code_execution (run shell commands) and text_editor_code_execution (create/view/edit files).

Pre-installed Python Libraries

Data science: pandas, numpy, scipy, scikit-learn, statsmodels
Visualization: matplotlib, seaborn
File processing: openpyxl, xlsxwriter, pillow, pypdf, pdfplumber, python-docx, python-pptx
Math: sympy, mpmath
Utilities: tqdm, python-dateutil, pytz, sqlite3

Additional packages can be installed at runtime via pip install.

Supported File Types for Upload

Type	Extensions
Data	CSV, Excel (.xlsx/.xls), JSON, XML
Images	JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP
Text	.txt, .md, .py, .js, etc.

Container Reuse

Reuse containers across requests to maintain state (files, installed packages, variables). Extract the container_id from the first response and pass it to subsequent requests.

Response Structure

The response contains interleaved text and tool result blocks:

text — Claude's explanation
server_tool_use — What Claude is doing
bash_code_execution_tool_result — Code execution output (check return_code for success/failure)
text_editor_code_execution_tool_result — File operation results

Security: Always sanitize filenames with os.path.basename() / path.basename() before writing downloaded files to disk to prevent path traversal attacks. Write files to a dedicated output directory.

Server-Side Tools: Web Search and Web Fetch

Web search and web fetch let Claude search the web and retrieve page content. They run server-side — just include the tool definitions and Claude handles queries, fetching, and result processing automatically.

Tool Definitions

[
  { "type": "web_search_20260209", "name": "web_search" },
  { "type": "web_fetch_20260209", "name": "web_fetch" }
]

Dynamic Filtering (Fable 5 / Opus 4.8 / Opus 4.7 / Opus 4.6 / Sonnet 4.6)

The web_search_20260209 and web_fetch_20260209 versions support dynamic filtering — Claude writes and executes code to filter search results before they reach the context window, improving accuracy and token efficiency. Dynamic filtering is built into these tool versions and activates automatically; you do not need to separately declare the code_execution tool or pass any beta header.

{
  "tools": [
    { "type": "web_search_20260209", "name": "web_search" },
    { "type": "web_fetch_20260209", "name": "web_fetch" }
  ]
}

Without dynamic filtering, the previous web_search_20250305 version is also available.

Note: Only include the standalone code_execution tool when your application needs code execution for its own purposes (data analysis, file processing, visualization) independent of web search. Including it alongside _20260209 web tools creates a second execution environment that can confuse the model.

Server-Side Tools: Programmatic Tool Calling

With standard tool use, each tool call is a round trip: Claude calls, the result enters Claude's context, Claude reasons, then calls the next tool. Chained calls accumulate latency and tokens — most of that intermediate data is never needed again.

Programmatic tool calling lets Claude compose those calls into a script. The script runs in the code execution container; when it invokes a tool, the container pauses, the call executes, and the result returns to the running code (not to Claude's context). The script processes it with normal control flow. Only the final output returns to Claude. Use it when chaining many tool calls or when intermediate results are large and should be filtered before reaching the context window.

For full documentation, use WebFetch:

URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/tool-use/programmatic-tool-calling

Server-Side Tools: Tool Search

The tool search tool lets Claude dynamically discover tools from large libraries without loading all definitions into the context window. Use it when you have many tools but only a few are relevant to any given request. Discovered tool schemas are appended to the request, not swapped in — this preserves the prompt cache (see agent-design.md §Caching for Agents).

For full documentation, use WebFetch:

URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/tool-use/tool-search-tool

Agent Skills (Messages API)

Agent Skills package task-specific instructions and files that Claude loads when relevant (e.g., the Anthropic pre-built pptx, xlsx, pdf, docx skills). On the Messages API, skills are enabled via the container parameter alongside the code-execution tool — this is not the Managed Agents surface and does not use client.beta.agents / sessions / environments. Availability: see shared/platform-availability.md.

Required on each request:

client.beta.messages.create(...) with both beta flags: code-execution-2025-08-25 and skills-2025-10-02.
container={"skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "<id>", "version": "latest"}]} — the skills list selects which skills are available inside the execution container.
tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}] — skills execute via code execution in the container.

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="{{OPUS_ID}}", max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={"skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pptx", "version": "latest"}]},
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Create a 3-slide presentation on X"}],
)

Generated files (.pptx, .xlsx, …) are written inside the container; the response carries a file ID for each. Download by passing that ID to the Files API (client.beta.files.download(file_id) / GET /v1/files/{id}/content with anthropic-beta: files-api-2025-04-14).

List available skills via GET /v1/skills (requires anthropic-beta: skills-2025-10-02).

MCP Connector (Beta)

The MCP connector lets Claude call tools hosted on a remote MCP server directly from the Messages API — Anthropic makes the MCP connection server-side. Requires beta flag mcp-client-2025-11-20 on client.beta.messages.create(...). Availability: see shared/platform-availability.md.

Two parameters are required together:

mcp_servers — array of server connection definitions: [{"type": "url", "url": "<server URL>", "name": "<server-name>", "authorization_token": "<optional>"}]
tools — must include an mcp_toolset entry that references the server by name: [{"type": "mcp_toolset", "mcp_server_name": "<server-name>"}]

The mcp_server_name in the toolset must match a name in mcp_servers. Omitting the mcp_toolset entry is rejected as a validation error — every server in mcp_servers must be referenced by exactly one toolset.

client.beta.messages.create(
    model="{{OPUS_ID}}", max_tokens=1024,
    betas=["mcp-client-2025-11-20"],
    mcp_servers=[{"type": "url", "url": "https://example/sse", "name": "example-mcp"}],
    tools=[{"type": "mcp_toolset", "mcp_server_name": "example-mcp"}],
    messages=[...],
)

Go uses the typed constant anthropic.AnthropicBetaMCPClient2025_11_20; the older …2025_04_04 constant is deprecated.

Optional toolset fields: default_config (defaults for all tools, e.g. {"enabled": false} for allowlist mode) and configs (per-tool overrides keyed by tool name).

Tool Use Examples

You can provide sample tool calls directly in your tool definitions to demonstrate usage patterns and reduce parameter errors. This helps Claude understand how to correctly format tool inputs, especially for tools with complex schemas.

For full documentation, use WebFetch:

URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/tool-use/implement-tool-use

Client-Side Tools: Computer Use

Computer use lets Claude interact with a desktop environment (screenshots, mouse, keyboard). It is a client-side tool — your application provides the environment and executes the actions Claude requests; Anthropic processes the screenshots and action requests in real time but does not host the environment or retain the data.

For full documentation, use WebFetch:

URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/computer-use/overview

Context Editing

Context editing clears stale tool results and thinking blocks from the transcript as a long-running agent accumulates turns. Unlike compaction (which summarizes), context editing prunes — the cleared content is removed, not replaced. Use it when old tool outputs are no longer relevant and you want to keep the transcript lean without losing the conversation structure.

Beta. Use client.beta.messages.* with beta context-management-2025-06-27. Configure via context_management.edits with a strategy type of clear_tool_uses_20250919 (clear old tool results; optional clear_tool_inputs: true also clears the tool_use params) or clear_thinking_20251015 (clear thinking blocks). These are not the compaction types — compact_20260112 with beta compact-2026-01-12 is the separate compaction feature.

For full documentation, use WebFetch:

URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/context-editing

Server-Side Tools: Advisor (Beta)

The advisor tool pairs a faster, lower-cost executor model (the top-level model on the request) with a higher-intelligence advisor model (the model field inside the tool definition) that provides strategic guidance mid-generation. The executor does most of the token generation; the advisor is consulted for planning. Availability: see shared/platform-availability.md.

Tool Definition

{
  "type": "advisor_20260301",
  "name": "advisor",
  "model": "claude-opus-4-8"
}

The advisor model must be at least as capable as the executor. An invalid pairing returns 400 invalid_request_error. Valid pairs:

Executor (request `model`)	Valid advisor (tool `model`)
`claude-haiku-4-5` / `claude-sonnet-4-6` / `claude-opus-4-6` / `claude-opus-4-7`	`claude-opus-4-8` or `claude-opus-4-7`
`claude-opus-4-8`	`claude-opus-4-8` only

Call via client.beta.messages.create(...) with betas=["advisor-tool-2026-03-01"] (or the anthropic-beta: advisor-tool-2026-03-01 header). In multi-turn conversations, append the full response.content — including any advisor_tool_result blocks — back to messages on the next turn. If you remove the advisor tool from tools on a later turn while the history still contains advisor_tool_result blocks, the API returns a 400.

Client-Side Tools: Memory

The memory tool enables Claude to store and retrieve information across conversations through a memory file directory. Claude can create, read, update, and delete files that persist between sessions.

Key Facts

Client-side tool — you control storage via your implementation
Supports commands: view, create, str_replace, insert, delete, rename
Operates on files in a /memories directory
The Python, TypeScript, and Java SDKs provide helper classes/functions for implementing the memory backend

Security: Never store API keys, passwords, tokens, or other secrets in memory files. Be cautious with personally identifiable information (PII) — check data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA) before persisting user data. The reference implementations have no built-in access control; in multi-user systems, implement per-user memory directories and authentication in your tool handlers.

For full implementation examples, use WebFetch:

Docs: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/tool-use/memory-tool.md

Client-Side Tools: Bash and Text Editor

The bash and text editor tools are Anthropic-defined, schema-less tools. Declare them by type and name only — the input schema is built into the model and cannot be modified. Do not pass an input_schema, and do not define a custom tool that happens to be named "bash" — that creates a user-defined tool without the built-in behavior.

Both are client-executed: Claude returns a tool_use block, your code performs the action locally, and you send back a tool_result. The API is stateless; your application maintains the shell session or filesystem between turns.

Bash tool declaration

{"type": "bash_20250124", "name": "bash"}

Language	Declaration
Python / TypeScript / Ruby / cURL	plain object `{"type": "bash_20250124", "name": "bash"}`
Go	`anthropic.ToolUnionParam{OfBashTool20250124: &anthropic.ToolBash20250124Param{}}`
Java	`.addTool(ToolBash20250124.builder().build())` from `com.anthropic.models.messages`
C#	`Tools = [new ToolBash20250124()]` from `Anthropic.Models.Messages`
PHP	`tools: [new \Anthropic\Messages\ToolBash20250124()]`

Claude's tool_use.input contains either {"command": "<string>"} or {"restart": true}. Check for restart first (reset the session, return a confirmation string); otherwise run command and return combined stdout + stderr.

Security — commands are untrusted model output. Run in an isolated environment (container, VM, or restricted user); apply an allowlist of permitted executables and reject shell operators (&&, |, ;, `, $()); set timeouts and resource limits; log every command. A blocklist is not sufficient.

Text editor tool declaration

{"type": "text_editor_20250728", "name": "str_replace_based_edit_tool"}

Optional field: max_characters to cap view output. Java exposes a typed ToolTextEditor20250728 builder (com.anthropic.models.messages); other statically-typed SDKs follow the same naming pattern — see the Anthropic-Defined Tools section in {lang}/claude-api/tool-use.md for the exact class.

Security — path is untrusted model output. Confine every file operation to a fixed project root. Before executing any command, resolve the model-supplied path to its canonical form and verify it remains within your project root; reject the request if it escapes (.., symlinks, absolute paths outside the root, URL-encoded traversal like %2e%2e%2f). Use your language's built-in path utilities (e.g., Python pathlib.Path.resolve() then check .is_relative_to(root)). Never call open() / writeFile / unlink directly on the raw path value.

tool_use.input.command is one of:

`command`	Other inputs	Action
`view`	`path`, optional `view_range`	Return file contents or directory listing
`create`	`path`, `file_text`	Create/overwrite file with `file_text`. Create a backup if the file already exists.
`str_replace`	`path`, `old_str`, `new_str`	Replace exactly one occurrence; error if 0 or >1 matches
`insert`	`path`, `insert_line`, `insert_text`	Insert `insert_text` after line `insert_line` (0 = beginning of file)

For both tools, on error return {"type": "tool_result", "tool_use_id": "…", "content": "<error text>", "is_error": true} so Claude can recover.

Structured Outputs

Structured outputs constrain Claude's responses to follow a specific JSON schema, guaranteeing valid, parseable output. This is not a separate tool — it enhances the Messages API response format and/or tool parameter validation.

Two features are available:

JSON outputs (output_config.format): Control Claude's response format
Strict tool use (strict: true): Guarantee valid tool parameter schemas

Supported models: {{FABLE_NAME}}, {{OPUS_NAME}}, {{SONNET_NAME}}, and {{HAIKU_NAME}}. Legacy models (Claude Opus 4.5, Claude Opus 4.1) also support structured outputs.

Recommended: Use client.messages.parse() which automatically validates responses against your schema. When using messages.create() directly, use output_config: {format: {...}}. The output_format convenience parameter is also accepted by some SDK methods (e.g., .parse()), but output_config.format is the canonical API-level parameter.

JSON Schema Limitations

Supported:

Basic types: object, array, string, integer, number, boolean, null
enum, const, anyOf, allOf, $ref/$def
String formats: date-time, time, date, duration, email, hostname, uri, ipv4, ipv6, uuid
additionalProperties: false (required for all objects)

Not supported:

Recursive schemas
Numerical constraints (minimum, maximum, multipleOf)
String constraints (minLength, maxLength)
Complex array constraints
additionalProperties set to anything other than false

The Python and TypeScript SDKs automatically handle unsupported constraints by removing them from the schema sent to the API and validating them client-side.

Important Notes

First request latency: New schemas incur a one-time compilation cost. Subsequent requests with the same schema use a 24-hour cache.
Refusals: If Claude refuses for safety reasons (stop_reason: "refusal"), the output may not match your schema.
Token limits: If stop_reason: "max_tokens", output may be incomplete. Increase max_tokens.
Incompatible with: Citations (returns 400 error), message prefilling.
Works with: Batches API, streaming, token counting, extended thinking.

Tips for Effective Tool Use

Provide detailed descriptions: Claude relies heavily on descriptions to understand when and how to use tools
Use specific tool names: get_current_weather is better than weather
Validate inputs: Always validate tool inputs before execution
Handle errors gracefully: Return informative error messages so Claude can adapt
Limit tool count: Too many tools can confuse the model — keep the set focused
Test tool interactions: Verify Claude uses tools correctly in various scenarios

For detailed tool use documentation, use WebFetch:

URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/tool-use/overview

25 KiB Raw Blame History

Tool Use Concepts

User-Defined Tools

Tool Definition Structure

Tool Choice Options

Tool Runner vs Manual Loop

Handling Tool Results

Server-Side Tools: Code Execution

Key Facts

Tool Definition

Pre-installed Python Libraries

Supported File Types for Upload

Container Reuse

Response Structure

Server-Side Tools: Web Search and Web Fetch

Tool Definitions

Dynamic Filtering (Fable 5 / Opus 4.8 / Opus 4.7 / Opus 4.6 / Sonnet 4.6)

Server-Side Tools: Programmatic Tool Calling

Server-Side Tools: Tool Search

Agent Skills (Messages API)

MCP Connector (Beta)

Tool Use Examples

Client-Side Tools: Computer Use

Context Editing

Server-Side Tools: Advisor (Beta)

Tool Definition

Client-Side Tools: Memory

Key Facts

Client-Side Tools: Bash and Text Editor

Bash tool declaration

Text editor tool declaration

Structured Outputs

JSON Schema Limitations

Important Notes

Tips for Effective Tool Use

25 KiB

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