Browse documentation

Tools

Give an agent concrete actions it can take, from reading data to running workflows.

A tool is a concrete capability an agent can call to take an action, like reading a data object, posting in a channel, editing a canvas or running a workflow. Tools are how an agent does things rather than just talks about them.

Where tools come from

Every tool is provided by a connector. The built-in Spark connector supplies SPARK's own tools, which work with your agents, canvases, channels and threads, data, files, the Mailbox, spaces, tasks and workflows. Each connector you activate, such as Microsoft 365, Slack or GitHub, contributes its own tools. See Connectors (MCP).

Activating a connector makes its tools available. It does not give them to any agent on its own: you choose the tools for each agent on its page.

Once Web search is switched on under Settings › Extensions, agents can also search the public web with Spark Web Search.

Agents can also build from templates. Spark Search Agent Templates, Spark Get Agent Template and Spark Create Agent From Template create an agent from one of the templates SPARK ships, and Spark Search Data Object Templates, Spark Get Data Object Template and Spark Create Data Object From Template do the same for data objects. Nobody picks them: they come with Spark Create Agent and Spark Create Data Object, so an agent that may create one looks for a template first.

Browse the Tools page

Open Tools in Agent Studio: on the Settings tab it sits under Agent Studio, and on the Ecosystem tab you rest the pointer on Studio and pick it. The Tools page is a directory of what SPARK can run, as cards in three sections:

  • Spark Ecosystem: every Spark tool an agent can be given, in five areas, each a section of its own headed such as Spark Ecosystem › Agents: Agents, Collaboration (canvas, spaces, tasks and threads), Data & Files, Extensions (the Mailbox, Calculator and Web Search) and Workflows.
  • Workflow Actions: the actions a workflow can be built from, grouped as the workflow editor files them, for example Trigger, Data, Analytics and Collaboration.
  • Analytics: the analytics the platform computes, by category, for example Performance, Fees, Peers, Valuation, Accounting and Share classes.

Each card shows the tool's name and two lines on what it does. Its category sits at the top right in the category's colour: for a Spark tool, its own group inside its area, such as Canvas, Spaces, Tasks or Threads in Collaboration, so a group's cards sit together. The same category keeps the same colour everywhere: Data is blue in Spark Ecosystem, Workflow Actions and Skills alike. Hover the category to see the tool's other facts, such as whether it reads or writes.

The search at the top right widens as you type, and finds a tool by its words, its group or its area. A search shows only the sections that hold a match, each one open; Collapse all beside it folds every section, and waits until the search is cleared.

The Tools page is for reading: its cards open nothing. You give tools to an agent from the agent's page.

ToolsTools for agents, actions for workflows, and Spark's analytics.pdfSpark Ecosystem › Collaboration (1)Spark Export Canvas PdfCanvasPrints a canvas as an A4 PDF and saves it inthe workspace's Files.Spark Ecosystem › Data & Files (2)Spark Read File ContentFilesReads a file in windows: pages of a PDF ortext file, rows of a CSV or Excel sheet, or th…Spark Extract FileFilesExtracts every value of a PDF, image orspreadsheet into a data object, each with w…Workflow Actions (2)Extract Unstructured DataDataExtract data from documents such as PDFsCanvas to PDFDataPrint a canvas as a PDF and save it in Files
A search on the Tools page: matches in every section, each category in its colour.

Add tools to an agent

  1. In Agent Studio, open an agent on the Agents page (or click New).
  2. In the Tools section, click + (Add tools), or Add while the section is empty.
  3. In the Select tools dialog, tick the tool cards you want. Spark's tools sit in the same five areas as on the Tools page, and each connector has a section of its own, with how many of its tools are ticked and a Select all (or Unselect all). The dialog opens with every section folded, so its areas read as a list: open one from its heading, or all of them with Expand all. Type in Search tools... to filter, which opens every section with a match; Select all then picks only the matches.
  4. Click Apply. Nothing reaches the agent until you apply, and Cancel discards your picks.

The dialog's foot counts your picks, such as 1 selected. Selected tools appear as chips in the Tools section; click the × on a chip to remove one. The section's summary counts them, such as 3 tools.

Select toolsChoose which tools this agent can call.Search tools...Select allSpark Ecosystem › Agents (4/12)Select allSpark Create AgentAgentsCreates an agent with its instructions, model,tools, skills and vault, or updates an existin…Spark Create Agent From Te…AgentsCreates an agent from a template Sparkships, as the template describes it.Comes with Spark Create AgentSpark Create SkillAgentsCreates one of the workspace's own skills,or updates one, for agents to follow.Spark Get Agent TemplateAgentsReads one agent template in full: its prompt,model, tools and skills.Comes with Spark Create Agent1 selectedCancelApply
Select tools: a pick brings the tools it needs along, ticked and locked.

Tools an agent gets without picking

Some cards are ticked and locked in the dialog, and dimmed:

  • In every thread: the tools every thread turn has: Spark Add Chat Context, Spark Remove Chat Context, Spark Rename Chat and Spark Render Visual.
  • Comes with another tool: tools that a picked tool brings along because it needs them. Spark Manage Canvases brings the canvas and widget tools, such as Spark Read Canvas and Spark Create Widget; Spark Create Agent brings the agent template tools and the ones that list agents, models, skills, tools and vaults; Spark Create Data Object brings the data object template tools and Spark List Data Objects. A tool that two picks need names both, such as Comes with Spark Manage Canvases and Spark Create Data Object.

You cannot untick these, and they do not count toward the agent's picks. A tool that only comes with another one shows in the dialog only once a pick brings it. The agent's catalogue of tools lists them too, so it knows everything it can call.

Connector tools need a connection

A connector that signs in to an outside service needs an active connection in the agent's vault. Until it has one, the dialog does not let you pick its tools and says why: Choose a vault with a connector connection to pick these tools, or, once a vault is chosen, Connect connector in this agent's vault to pick these tools. See Connect an account.

If a connection goes missing or expires later, the agent keeps the tools of every connector that is still connected; only the missing connector's tools drop out of its runs. The Vault section then shows Missing credentials with the connector's name.

If any of an agent's tools come from a connector that needs credentials, the agent needs a Vault. See Vaults.

Control which tools a connector offers

You can enable or disable individual tools of a connector for the whole workspace, which is broader than choosing tools per agent. Open Connectors in Agent Studio, and click a connector to open its page.

Each tool there has an Allow toggle. Turning it off removes that tool from the pool everyone can give their agents; turning it on restores it. The built-in Spark connector's tools are always available, so their toggles are disabled and read Built-in tools are always available.

Tools and skills work together

Many Spark tools are linked to the skills that explain how to use them well. An agent given such a tool also holds the tool's main skill, so it can read it before acting without you adding it by hand. See Skills.

How tools show up in a thread

An agent's answer carries its steps: the 3 steps beside its name opens them. Each tool it called is a line with the tool's name and how long it took, on a timeline with its reasoning and the skills it read. Click the line to open the call in a dialog (What the agent called it with, and what it returned.), with Input and Output tabs. See Start a thread.

CMClaire Martin2 minutes agoRead your workflow skill, then tell me which step would load the administrator's NAV file intoour NAV Records data object. Don't create anything.SparkAgent3 steps1 minute agoReasoningI will load the workflow authoring skill and list the workspace's data objects using `loa…Spark List Data Objects122msWorkflow Authoring5msNAV Records is one of the workspace's 12 data objects. A Read CSV File step reads theadministrator's file into records, and a Save Record step writes them to NAV Records.
Each tool the agent calls is a step you can open to inspect.

Where to go next