Using Tools
Agents use tools to call APIs, query databases, or run custom functions from your codebase. Tools give agents capabilities beyond language generation by providing structured access to data and performing clearly defined operations. You can also load tools from remote MCP servers to expand an agent’s capabilities.
When to use tools
Use tools when an agent needs additional context or information from remote resources, or when it needs to run code that performs a specific operation. This includes tasks a model can’t reliably handle on its own, such as fetching live data or returning consistent, well defined outputs.
Creating a tool
This example shows how to create a tool that fetches weather data from an API. When the agent calls the tool, it provides the required input as defined by the tool’s inputSchema. The tool accesses this data through its context argument, which in this example includes the location used in the weather API query.
import { createTool } from "@mastra/core/tools";
import { z } from "zod";
export const weatherTool = createTool({
id: "weather-tool",
description: "Fetches weather for a location",
inputSchema: z.object({
location: z.string()
}),
outputSchema: z.object({
weather: z.string()
}),
execute: async ({ context }) => {
const { location } = context;
const response = await fetch(`https://wttr.in/${location}?format=3`);
const weather = await response.text();
return { weather };
}
});Adding tools to an agent
To make a tool available to an agent, add it to the tools option and reference it by name in the agent’s instructions.
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";
import { Agent } from "@mastra/core/agent";
import { weatherTool } from "../tools/weather-tool";
export const weatherAgent = new Agent({
name: "weather-agent",
instructions: `
You are a helpful weather assistant.
Use the weatherTool to fetch current weather data.`,
model: openai("gpt-4o-mini"),
tools: { weatherTool }
});Calling an agent
The agent uses the tool’s inputSchema to infer what data the tool expects. In this case, it extracts London as the location from the message and makes it available to the tool’s context.
import { mastra } from "./mastra";
const agent = mastra.getAgent("weatherAgent");
const result = await agent.generate("What's the weather in London?");Using multiple tools
An agent can use multiple tools to handle more complex tasks by delegating specific parts to individual tools. The agent decides which tools to use based on the user’s message, the agent’s instructions, and the tool descriptions and schemas.
When multiple tools are available, the agent may choose to use one, several, or none, depending on what’s needed to answer the query.
import { weatherTool } from "../tools/weather-tool";
import { activitiesTool } from "../tools/activities-tool";
export const weatherAgent = new Agent({
// ..
tools: { weatherTool, activitiesTool }
});