tool calling
Tool calling lets a model request a defined operation from an application.
Use this when An assistant needs to query data or perform a bounded application action.
without the term
“I want the chatbot to be able to look up a customer's orders and cancel one. How do I let the AI actually do things in our app without it doing anything it shouldn't?”
with the term · How do you ask a model for tool calling?
Expose this action as a tool with validated arguments and host-enforced permissions. Test malformed input and an unauthorized request.
What is tool calling?
The model asks for an operation by name with arguments. The application validates those arguments, checks permission, runs the operation, and returns the result.
Why does tool calling matter when vibe coding?
A fluent tool request can still contain invalid arguments or exceed the user’s authority.
How do you do tool calling?
Expose a narrow schema, validate on the host, and return explicit success or failure.
What goes wrong with tool calling?
Treating model-generated arguments as trusted application input.