Using Tools with Your Voice Agent

Tools let your voice agent do more than talk — they let it take actions and look up information during a call. This article explains what tools are and how to use them.

A tool is a capability you make available to the agent so it can act mid-conversation instead of only responding from its instructions. For example, a tool might let the agent look something up, capture and submit information, or hand the call off. The agent decides when to use an available tool based on how the conversation unfolds and the guidance in its instructions.

Tools are managed on the agent's Resources & outputs tab. Enable the tools you want this agent to have access to; only enabled tools are available to it on a call.

• Reference tools in your instructions. The agent uses tools more reliably when your Conversation flow or Behavior and guardrails sections describe when it should reach for them.

• Keep the set focused. Enable the tools this agent actually needs for its job rather than everything available — a tighter set leads to more predictable behavior.

• Pair with the knowledge base. For answering questions from reference material, a knowledge base is often the better fit; use tools for actions.

Note: Knowledge base access can be delivered to the agent either as a lookup tool it calls on demand, or by including the content directly in its instructions. Larger knowledge bases are exposed as a lookup; shorter ones can be included inline.