agent-tool-builder

agent-tool-builder is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills. It costs 17 tokens per session (4,512 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of agent-tool-builder, Apache-2.0.

A guide to building tools that AI agents can call, including their input schemas, descriptions, validation, error handling, and MCP integration. MCP is a standard way for agents to connect to tools and data.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to design function-calling tools, write JSON schemas and descriptions, add validation and error handling, and test tools with an AI model.
Why use it?
It helps prevent agents from misunderstanding tools, sending invalid inputs, failing silently, or wasting context on too many confusing choices.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to design function-calling tools, write JSON schemas and descriptions, add validation and error handling, and test tools with an AI model.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills/agent-tool-builder
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills --skill agent-tool-builder
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for agent-tool-builder

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills/agent-tool-builder/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills/agent-tool-builder)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills/agent-tool-builder"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills/agent-tool-builder/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for agent-tool-builder

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills/agent-tool-builder"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills/agent-tool-builder.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 17 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 4,512 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin 97% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00017 $0.04512
Opus 5 $0.00009 $0.02256
Sonnet 5 $0.00003 $0.00902
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00451

Measured 7d ago against content hash adb3eb92cdf5, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-10, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

agent-tool-builder scanned grade A with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 7d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

data = weather_api.fetch(location)
Origin

This is a copy

97% identical to agent-tool-builder — 629 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

skills/global_config/agent-tool-builder/SKILL.md · 716 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 716 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Agent Tool Builder

Tools are how AI agents interact with the world. A well-designed tool is the difference between an agent that works and one that hallucinates, fails silently, or costs 10x more tokens than necessary.

This skill covers tool design from schema to error handling. JSON Schema best practices, description writing that actually helps the LLM, validation, and the emerging MCP standard that's becoming the lingua franca for AI tools.

Key insight: Tool descriptions are more important than tool implementations. The LLM never sees your code - it only sees the schema and description.

Principles

  • Description quality > implementation quality for LLM accuracy
  • Aim for fewer than 20 tools - more causes confusion
  • Every tool needs explicit error handling - silent failures poison agents
  • Return strings, not objects - LLMs process text
  • Validation gates before execution - reject, fix, or escalate, never silent fail
  • Test tools with the LLM, not just unit tests

Capabilities

  • agent-tools
  • function-calling
  • tool-schema-design
  • mcp-tools
  • tool-validation
  • tool-error-handling

Scope

  • multi-agent-coordination → multi-agent-orchestration
  • agent-memory → agent-memory-systems
  • api-design → api-designer
  • llm-prompting → prompt-engineering

Tooling

Standards

  • JSON Schema - When: All tool definitions Note: The universal format for tool schemas
  • MCP (Model Context Protocol) - When: Building reusable, cross-platform tools Note: Anthropic's open standard, widely adopted

Frameworks

  • Anthropic SDK - When: Claude-based agents Note: Beta tool runner handles most complexity
  • OpenAI Functions - When: OpenAI-based agents Note: Use strict mode for guaranteed schema compliance
  • Vercel AI SDK - When: Multi-provider tool handling Note: Abstracts differences between providers
  • LangChain Tools - When: LangChain-based agents Note: Converts MCP tools to LangChain format

Patterns

Tool Schema Design

Creating clear, unambiguous JSON Schema for tools

Read the full file on GitHub · 716 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 7d ago First seen · 716 lines · 17 tokens per session scan A adb3eb92cdf5

Subscribe to this mod's changes

agent-tool-builder is a skill published in the GitHub repository hybridlabor-api/bdb-dev-optimized-agent-skills (6 stars, last pushed 5d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 17 tokens to every session and 4,512 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 1 finding (makes network calls). It is 97% identical to agent-tool-builder, differing in 629 lines, and is treated as a copy.