Tools
Understand and configure the tools agents use — System Tools always available, plus custom tools your team creates.
Use this Studio state to connect the product UI to a real business operation: customer signal, agent behavior, workflow path, channel, CRM context, and review outcome.
Follow the real configuration that turns an operation into a system.
These captures favor full, readable product states: agents, workflows, channels, logs, analytics, and publishing controls without floating labels or artificial step boxes.
Use this Studio state to connect the product UI to a real business operation: customer signal, agent behavior, workflow path, channel, CRM context, and review outcome.
Summary
Understand and configure the tools agents use — System Tools always available, plus custom tools your team creates.
Concepts covered
Step breakdown
- Open ResourcesStart in the Resources area and confirm what the real screen is showing.
- Inspect product behaviorUse screenshots and visible product states to understand what the screen does, why it exists, and how teams use it.
- Connect the platformSee how the screen connects to agents, workflows, records, activity, channels, integrations, or ownership.
What the Tools module shows
The Tools section in Studio (Resources → Tools) shows two categories: System Tools and any custom tools your team has created.
System Tools are built-in capabilities available to every agent: Web Search (real-time web queries), Scrape URL (extract content from any webpage), and LinkedIn (professional network lookup). These are always available — you enable them per agent in Settings → Tools.
Custom tools are actions your team defines and connects to integrations or APIs. Each custom tool has a name, a 'When to use' description that guides the agent, and a tool type that determines how the action is executed.
Creating a custom tool
Click Create Tool in the Tools section. Give it a name that reflects the action it performs — 'Create Support Ticket', 'Look Up Order Status', 'Send Payment Link'. Write a clear 'When to use' description so the agent knows exactly when to invoke it.
Select the tool type: integration-backed (uses a connected app like Salesforce or Zendesk), API call, or table action. The tool type determines which configuration fields appear.
Enabling tools for an agent
Creating a tool makes it available workspace-wide. To give a specific agent access, open the agent in Agent Builder, go to Settings → Tools, and enable the tools relevant to that agent's job.
The Settings → Tools panel shows System Tools (toggled on or off) and any custom tools available in the workspace. Only enable what the agent actually needs — unused tools add noise to the agent's decision-making.
Tools inside Playbooks
Tools can also be scoped inside a Playbook. A Playbook defines when to use a set of instructions and which tools apply — this lets you give the agent access to a tool only in a specific operational context rather than globally.
Use Playbook-scoped tools for actions that should only happen in defined situations: creating a ticket when certain criteria are met, generating a payment link only after qualification, or looking up LinkedIn only during outbound research.
Operational playbook
Use Tools as part of the Frontline Studio Resources operating loop: inspect the current product state, confirm the source context, and decide what should happen next.
The goal is not to memorize screens. The goal is to understand how the product surface supports repeatable work, AI assistance, and accountable handoff.
Best practices
Start with the operational job before changing configuration. Name the owner, define the trigger or source context, and decide how the result should be reviewed.
Prefer narrow, inspectable setups over broad automation. Teammates should be able to explain why the system took an action from the visible product state.
Troubleshooting
If the result does not match expectation, check the source context first, then permissions, connected integrations, required fields, workflow logs, and any AI-generated output used by downstream steps.
When in doubt, compare the latest product state with the related record, activity, or workflow execution so debugging starts from evidence rather than guesswork.
FAQs
What does Tools teach?
Understand and configure the tools agents use — System Tools always available, plus custom tools your team creates.
How should teams use this lesson?
Use it as a product walkthrough: understand the real screen, the product behavior, the operational outcome, and how the area connects with the rest of Frontline.
How should this page fit into onboarding?
Use it to understand the product surface, inspect real UI states, and connect the concept to daily operating workflows before configuring production behavior.
What should I verify before using this in production?
Verify ownership, permissions, source context, failure behavior, and the handoff path so teammates can trust what the system does next.