What are AI Agents, Really? › Tools: How Agents Take Action
Michael BrenndoerferMay 27, 20251 min read
What are AI Agents, Really? › Tools: How Agents Take ActionOne section · Sections in this article5 / 13 ↓
Sections in this article13
LLMs are good at reasoning and generating text, but they cannot directly act in the real world. That is the role of tools.
## What Are Tools?
A tool is a function an LLM can call with structured inputs. For example:
```python
findHotels(
destination="Italy",
date="June",
budget=2000
)
```
The LLM selects this function, fills in the arguments, and runs it. Tools include:
- APIs for weather, search, reservations
- Database queries
- File system access
- Calculators
- Other agents
## The Role of MCP
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows agents to discover tools at runtime. This means agents can adapt and expand without needing hardcoded logic.
Read [this guide on MCP](/writing/introduction-tools-mcp-model-context-protocol) for more detail.