tool call
when an agent invokes an outside tool or service to act
Agents do real work through tool calls: a structured request to an external capability — a database query, an email send, a file write, an API request. The model chooses which tool and with what inputs; the surrounding system runs it. A tool call is the moment an agent reaches outside itself, so it is the natural place to check what data is about to leave and where it is going.
Think of it as
The assistant picking up a specific phone on the desk — one for the bank, one for the courier — to carry out a step.
Ideas that use this term