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Defining Agents and Tools

AI team members and tools should be designed together.

If you design the agents first and hand them a vague pile of tools later, or you design the tools first and hope roles will emerge naturally, the workflow gets harder to understand.

Start with the roles​

Ask:

  • what roles exist in the workspace
  • what each role is responsible for
  • what each role needs to see and do

Then design the tools that support those roles.

Keep tool access role-specific​

A tool being available somewhere in the workspace does not mean every AI team member should use it.

Keep the assignment tight:

  • intake roles get intake tools
  • review roles get review tools
  • release roles get release tools

That makes the workflow easier to govern and easier to debug.

Keep the tool surface structured​

Tools should have:

  • clear names
  • clear input schema
  • clear output schema
  • clear side-effect boundaries

That is what makes them usable from AI team members, views, hooks, and other packs.