Tool Use API Specification

Version: v1.1.9 | Status: Active | Last Updated: March 2026

Overview

The tool_use module provides infrastructure for registering, validating, invoking, and composing tools in a pipeline. It includes JSON-schema-like validation, a central registry with decorator support, and a chain abstraction for sequential multi-tool execution.

Core API

ValidationResult (dataclass)

Result of a validation operation.

Field	Type	Default	Description
valid	bool	True	Whether the data passed all validation checks
errors	list[str]	[]	List of human-readable error descriptions

Methods:

Method	Signature	Returns	Description
merge	(other: ValidationResult) -> ValidationResult	ValidationResult	Merge another result; combined valid and errors
to_dict	() -> dict[str, Any]	dict	Convert to plain dictionary

validate_input

def validate_input(data: Any, schema: dict[str, Any]) -> ValidationResult

Validate tool input data against a JSON-schema-like specification.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
data	Any	Yes	The input data to validate (typically a dict)
schema	dict[str, Any]	Yes	JSON-schema-like dict describing expected structure

Supported schema keywords: type, required, properties, items, enum, minimum, maximum, minLength, maxLength, minItems, maxItems, additionalProperties.

Returns: ValidationResult with valid=True if data conforms, or valid=False with error messages.

validate_output

def validate_output(data: Any, schema: dict[str, Any]) -> ValidationResult

Validate tool output data against a JSON-schema-like specification. Uses the same validation logic as validate_input, separated for clarity in error reporting and independent extensibility.

Parameters: Same as validate_input.

Returns: ValidationResult.

---

ToolEntry (dataclass)

A registered tool entry in the registry.

Field	Type	Default	Description
name	str	(required)	Unique identifier for the tool
description	str	(required)	Human-readable description
handler	Callable[..., Any]	(required)	The callable that executes tool logic
input_schema	dict[str, Any]	{}	JSON-schema-like input specification
output_schema	dict[str, Any]	{}	JSON-schema-like output specification
tags	list[str]	[]	Categorization tags for filtering

Methods:

Method	Signature	Returns	Description
to_tool_definition	(module: str = "tool_use") -> ToolDefinition	ToolDefinition	Convert to shared ToolDefinition schema type
to_dict	() -> dict[str, Any]	dict	Convert to plain dictionary (excludes handler)

ToolRegistry

Central registry for managing available tools. Supports registration, lookup, search by tags/name, and invocation with optional input/output validation.

Constructor:

ToolRegistry()

Methods:

Method	Signature	Returns	Description
register	(entry: ToolEntry) -> None	None	Register a tool. Raises ValueError if name exists
unregister	(name: str) -> bool	bool	Remove by name. Returns True if found
get	`(name: str) -> ToolEntry \	None`	ToolEntry \ None Retrieve by exact name
list	() -> list[ToolEntry]	list[ToolEntry]	All entries sorted by name
list_names	() -> list[str]	list[str]	All tool names sorted
search	(*, name_contains, tags, match_all_tags) -> list[ToolEntry]	list[ToolEntry]	Search by name substring and/or tags
invoke	(name, input_data, *, validate=True) -> Result	Result	Look up and invoke a tool with validation

search() parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name_contains	`str \	None`	No Case-insensitive name substring
tags	`list[str] \	None`	No Tags to filter by
match_all_tags	bool	No	If True, all tags must match (default False = any)

invoke() parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name	str	Yes	Registered tool name
input_data	Any	No	Data passed to tool handler
validate	bool	No	Validate input/output (default True)

Returns: Result object with status, data, message, errors, and duration_ms.

Dunder methods: __len__, __contains__, __repr__.

tool (Decorator)

@tool(
    name: str,
    description: str = "",
    input_schema: dict | None = None,
    output_schema: dict | None = None,
    tags: list[str] | None = None,
    registry: ToolRegistry | None = None,
)

Marks a function as a tool and optionally registers it. The decorated function retains a tool_entry attribute containing the ToolEntry, usable for deferred registration.

Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name	str	Yes	Unique tool name
description	str	No	Human-readable description
input_schema	`dict \	None`	No JSON-schema-like input spec
output_schema	`dict \	None`	No JSON-schema-like output spec
tags	`list[str] \	None`	No Categorization tags
registry	`ToolRegistry \	None`	No If provided, auto-registers the tool

---

ChainStep (dataclass)

A single step in a tool chain.

Field	Type	Default	Description
tool_name	str	(required)	Name of the tool to invoke
input_mapping	dict[str, str]	{}	Maps tool input keys to context keys (supports dot-notation)
output_key	str	""	Key to store output under in context. Empty = merge into context

Methods:

Method	Signature	Returns	Description
to_dict	() -> dict[str, Any]	dict	Convert to plain dictionary

ChainResult (dataclass)

Result of executing an entire tool chain.

Field	Type	Default	Description
success	bool	True	Whether all steps completed successfully
context	dict[str, Any]	{}	Accumulated context after all steps
step_results	list[Result]	[]	Per-step Result objects in execution order
errors	list[str]	[]	Aggregated errors from all steps
duration_ms	float	0.0	Total wall-clock time for the chain

Methods:

Method	Signature	Returns	Description
to_dict	() -> dict[str, Any]	dict	Convert to plain dictionary

ToolChain

A pipeline of tools that execute sequentially. Outputs from earlier steps are available to later steps via the accumulated context.

Constructor:

ToolChain(registry: ToolRegistry)

Methods:

Method	Signature	Returns	Description
add_step	(step: ChainStep) -> ToolChain	ToolChain	Append step (fluent API)
validate	() -> ValidationResult	ValidationResult	Validate all referenced tools exist
execute	(initial_input, *, stop_on_failure, validate_tools) -> ChainResult	ChainResult	Execute all steps sequentially
clear	() -> None	None	Remove all steps

execute() parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
initial_input	`dict[str, Any] \	None`	None Starting context for the first step
stop_on_failure	bool	True	Stop chain on first tool failure
validate_tools	bool	True	Pre-validate all referenced tools exist

Properties: steps (read-only copy of step list).

Dunder methods: __len__, __repr__.

Error Handling

Exception	Raised When
ValueError	Registering a tool with a duplicate name

Validation failures return ValidationResult with valid=False rather than raising exceptions. Invocation failures return Result with status=FAILURE.

Integration Points

• codomyrmex.schemas -- Uses Result, ResultStatus, ToolDefinition types
• model_context_protocol -- ToolEntry converts to ToolDefinition for MCP exposure
• agents -- Agent frameworks use ToolRegistry for tool discovery and invocation

Navigation

• Human Documentation: README.md
• MCP Tools: MCP_TOOL_SPECIFICATION.md
• PAI Integration: PAI.md
• Parent Directory: codomyrmex