Basics

Agents significantly enhance their capabilities by leveraging tools, which provide access to external data, APIs, and additional functionality.

In AG2, tool usage happens in two stages: - An agent suggests which tool to use (via its LLM). - Another agent executes the selected tool.

Typically, you'll create two agents. One to determine the appropriate tool and another to carry out the execution.

import Example from "/snippets/python-examples/toolregister.mdx";

1. We define a tool, a function that will be attached to our agents. The Annotated parameter is included in the LLM call to ensure it understands the purpose of date_string.

2. The date_agent decides whether to use the tool based on its LLM reasoning.

3. The executor_agent executes the tool and returns the output as its response.

4. We register the tool with the agents and provide a description to help the LLM determine when to use it.

5. Since this is a two-way conversation, the executor_agent follows the date_agent. If the date_agent suggests using the tool, the executor_agent executes it accordingly.

   executor_agent (to date_agent):
   
   I was born on the 25th of March 1995, what day was it?
   
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   >>>>>>>> USING AUTO REPLY...
   date_agent (to executor_agent):
   
   ***** Suggested tool call (call_iOOZMTCoIVVwMkkSVu04Krj8): get_weekday *****
   Arguments:
   {"date_string":"1995-03-25"}
   ****************************************************************************
   
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   >>>>>>>> EXECUTING FUNCTION get_weekday...
   Call ID: call_iOOZMTCoIVVwMkkSVu04Krj8
   Input arguments: {'date_string': '1995-03-25'}
   executor_agent (to date_agent):
   
   ***** Response from calling tool (call_iOOZMTCoIVVwMkkSVu04Krj8) *****
   Saturday
   **********************************************************************
   
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   >>>>>>>> USING AUTO REPLY...
   date_agent (to executor_agent):
   
   It was a Saturday.
   
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   

Alternatively, you can use decorators register_for_execution and register_for_llm to register a tool. So, instead of using register_function, you can register them with the function definition.

@date_agent.register_for_llm(description="Get the day of the week for a given date")
@executor_agent.register_for_execution()
def get_weekday(date_string: Annotated[str, "Format: YYYY-MM-DD"]) -> str:
    date = datetime.strptime(date_string, '%Y-%m-%d')
    return date.strftime('%A')