Lesson 1768 of 2116
Agentic AI: Write Tool Descriptions That Agents Use Correctly
Most agent tool-misuse comes from sloppy tool descriptions; rewrite each tool's name, description, and parameter docs as if briefing a new contractor.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The premise
- 2tool description
- 3tool selection
- 4when-not-to-use
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The premise
An agent can only choose a tool well if the description is unambiguous; the same prompt with cleaner tool docs often outperforms model upgrades.
What AI does well here
- Name tools with the verb-object pattern
- Describe when to use AND when not to use
- Document parameter constraints, units, and examples
- Show one good and one bad call example
What AI cannot do
- Test whether the rewrite actually improves agent behavior
- Eliminate model bias toward whichever tool is listed first
- Replace overlapping tools — only highlight the overlap
Key terms in this lesson
End-of-lesson quiz
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