Lesson 1333 of 1570
Designing the Toolbox You Hand Your Agent
Pick the smallest set of tools that lets the agent finish the job.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The big idea
- 2tool design
- 3scope
- 4tool naming
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The big idea
fewer, sharper tools beat a giant pile of overlapping ones
Some examples
- Giving an agent only read_file and run_tests
- Skipping tools you do not actually want it to use
- Naming tools so the model picks the right one
Try it!
Open your favorite AI tool and try one of the examples above. Pick the one that matches what you are actually working on this week. Spend 10 minutes, no more. Notice what worked and what did not — that's the real lesson.
Key terms in this lesson
End-of-lesson quiz
Check what stuck
15 questions · Score saves to your progress.
Tutor
Curious about “Designing the Toolbox You Hand Your Agent”?
Ask anything about this lesson. I’ll answer using just what you’re reading — short, friendly, grounded.
Progress saved locally in this browser. Sign in to sync across devices.
Related lessons
Keep going
Builders · 40 min
Builder Capstone: Design an Agent for Your Life
No code. Just design. Pick a real task you do every week and draft a complete agent spec — goal, tools, loop, stop, approvals, and what success looks like.
Builders · 40 min
What Makes an AI an Agent, Part 1
An AI agent is AI that takes ACTIONS, not just answers questions.
Builders · 40 min
MCP — How Agents Connect to Tools
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a standard way for agents to safely talk to tools.