Tool use
Tool use is a language model’s ability to call defined external functions — querying a database, sending a request, performing a calculation — by emitting a structured call that an application executes and returns results for.
The reliability of tool use depends far more on schema design than on model choice. Tools scoped to user intent, with clear names and few required arguments, are called correctly. Tools that mirror a database schema, or that take a dozen optional parameters, produce malformed calls no matter which model is driving.
Related terms
- MCP (Model Context Protocol)
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data sources through a server interface, so one integration works across any MCP-compatible client.
- Agentic RAG
Agentic RAG is a retrieval-augmented generation architecture in which the model decides when and what to retrieve — issuing its own queries, evaluating results, and retrieving again — rather than receiving a single fixed retrieval before generating.
- Function calling
Function calling is the mechanism by which a language model returns a structured, schema-conforming request to invoke a named function, instead of returning free text.
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