Prebuilt tools

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Prebuilt tools are ready‑made actions that connect watsonx Orchestrate to external applications and services. You can use these tools in your agents or flows to automate individual tasks or system interactions without building custom integrations.

Before you begin

  • To ensure agents and tools function reliably, connect your apps using valid credentials and follow the required configuration steps. Incorrect setup prevents agents and tools from responding or performing as expected. See Connecting apps for prebuilt agents for more details.

Viewing a prebuilt tool

When you select a tool from the catalog, the details page opens with two main tabs: Overview and Details - along with a right panel showing key metadata such as version, languages supported, and the tool ID.

These tabs help you understand what the tool does.

Tool overview

On the Overview tab, you can quickly understand what the tool does and what it needs from you to run successfully.

Table 1. Tool overview

Details

Description

Description

You can read a short summary of the tool's purpose and the action it performs. This helps you decide whether the tool supports the task you want to automate.

Input

The Input section tells you exactly what information you must provide when the tool runs. Each input item explains the type of data you need, such as user details, IDs, or codes.

Output

The Output section shows you what information the tool returns after it completes its task. You can use this output in your agent logic, flows, or follow‑up actions.
Note:

You can customize the tool's input and output parameters, see Customizing input and output parameters for more details.

Tool details

The Details tab helps you see how the tool is being used across your environment.

Agents using this tool

Here, you can view a list of agents that currently use the tool. Each entry shows:

  • The agent's name

  • A short description

  • How many tools the agent uses

  • Relevant domain tags

If no agents use the tool yet, you see an empty‑state message.

Metadata panel

The right‑hand panel gives you quick reference information, so you can easily understand the tool's context and behavior.

Table 2. Metadata panel

Details

Description

Version

The current version of the tool, with a link to recent versions. See Managing agent and tool versions for more details.

Languages supported

The languages available for interacting with the tool.

Tool behavior

Whether the tool runs as a conversation or as a background task.

Tool ID

A unique identifier you can use for tracking or referencing the tool.

Depending on the tool, you might see additional metadata that helps you understand how it works.

Using prebuilt tools

You can use prebuilt tools directly inside your agents or flows. When an agent calls a tool, watsonx Orchestrate runs it automatically and returns the result to the agent.

Customizing input and output parameters

Prebuilt tools include a default set of input and output parameters. If these values do not match your organization's data or API requirements, you can adjust them from the Parameters tab of any prebuilt tool.

You can:

  • Add input or output parameters: Create additional fields required by your applications, such as custom identifiers or metadata.

  • Remove parameters: Delete fields that your workflow does not use.

  • Modify existing parameters: Change the parameter name, data type, description, default value, or required status.

These options help you tailor a prebuilt tool so that it integrates smoothly with your systems and data conventions. See Customizing the schema for tools for more details.

What to do next

Ready to take the next step? See Categories to browse agents and tools that are organized for easy discovery.

The prebuilt agents and tools are grouped into categories to help you quickly find solutions based on your use cases and workflow requirements.