# Tools

**Tools** are specialized functional components that extend an agent's capabilities beyond language processing. They act as the interface between AI models and external systems, enabling agents to perceive, interact with, and manipulate the real world.

> **Core Role: Tools serve as the bridge between large AI models (such as intelligent agents) and the real world.** Through Tools, agents can not only understand and process information but also interact with external systems, data sources, and the physical world, achieving a complete "perception-action" loop that transforms passive language models into active, capable agents.

* **Flow Tools**: Tools built through process flows, suitable for scenarios requiring multiple steps, conditional logic, and data transfer. Example: automated approval workflows, data cleansing processes.
* **API Tools**: Tools integrated via APIs, ideal for connecting with external systems and data exchange. Example: calling third-party weather APIs, ERP system integration.
* **MCP Tools**: Tools based on Multi-Channel Processing, suitable for handling multiple data sources and parallel tasks. Example: scraping data from multiple websites simultaneously, batch order processing.
* **Built-in Tools**: Pre-built tools provided by the platform, such as web crawlers, SQL executors, search engines, OCR, etc., ready to use for common business needs.

**What can Tools do?**

* Data collection and processing (e.g., web scraping, data cleansing)
* Integration with external systems (e.g., API calls, database operations)
* Automated task execution (e.g., batch operations, scheduled tasks)
* Information retrieval and analysis (e.g., full-text search, intelligent recommendations)


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.workfx.ai/workfx-1.1.x-english/get-started/key-concepts/tools.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.