What connectors are & how they work

Overview

Tools are the mechanism through which Digital Workers take action. A tool is a callable capability that enables a Digital Worker to retrieve information, execute operations, or interact with external systems. Without tools, a Digital Worker can reason and respond but cannot act. Tools are what allow it to do real work across enterprise systems and workflows.

Tools are modular and configurable. They are attached to a Digital Worker during configuration, and each tool defines what the worker can do, what inputs it requires, and what it returns. Multiple tools can be attached to a single Digital Worker, allowing it to handle multi-step tasks that span different systems.

Tool Types

Agentic Studio provides two categories of tools: system tools and integration tools.

System tools are platform-native capabilities that support the Digital Worker's internal reasoning, orchestration, and task execution. They help the worker think, decide, transform information, or navigate a workflow. Rather than reaching external systems, system tools operate within the platform to support how the worker processes and structures its work.

One example is the Content Resolution tool, which helps a Digital Worker find relevant information from connected knowledge sources, match that content to the request at hand, and pass it into the next step in the workflow. Within this tool, users configure which knowledge sources the worker should search across, with options including internal enterprise knowledge, external sources, code repositories, or a specific connected knowledge base.

Integration tools are action-oriented or retrieval-oriented capabilities connected to external business systems. They allow a Digital Worker to move beyond reasoning and interact with operational software, sending an email, creating a ticket in a service management platform, posting to a messaging channel, or pulling data from a connected API. Integration tools are designed for real-world execution, enabling the worker to take meaningful action in the systems an organization already uses.

Tools and Connectors

Integration tools work in conjunction with connectors. A connector establishes and manages authenticated access to an external system. An integration tool defines a specific action performed through that access.

The distinction matters in practice: a connector to Zendesk provides access to that system, while an integration tool built on that connector defines a specific action, such as creating a ticket or retrieving a record. One connector can support multiple tools, each representing a different action available through the same system access.

How a Digital Worker Uses Tools

When a Digital Worker receives a request, its reasoning engine determines whether fulfilling that request requires calling one or more tools. It plans the task, selects the appropriate tool, structures the required inputs, executes the tool call, and integrates the result into its response or next step. This process can chain across multiple tools in sequence, with outputs from one step feeding into the next.

Tools operate as deterministic, trusted capabilities that supplement the worker's language reasoning. Where reasoning handles interpretation and judgment, tools handle execution, ensuring that actions taken against external systems are accurate, consistent, and auditable.

Every tool execution is logged. Inputs, outputs, the endpoint called, and the parameters used are all captured, providing a complete record of what the worker did and how it did it.

Choosing Tools for a Digital Worker

The right set of tools depends on what the Digital Worker needs to accomplish. A useful starting point is to consider what information the worker needs to retrieve, what actions it needs to perform, which internal systems are involved, and which external platforms it needs to reach.

A Digital Worker managing inventory, for example, would need tools to retrieve warehouse data and product information, create records in an internal ticketing system, and send notifications when stock thresholds are met. Each capability maps to a specific tool configured for that purpose.

Agentic Studio supports tool discovery through search, category browsing, and examples of tools already in use by other Digital Workers in the same workspace. This makes it easier to identify relevant tools quickly and understand how similar workers have been equipped.