Tool Use
Also: function calling, tool calling
Tool use lets Claude call external functions and APIs during a conversation. You define the tools Claude has access to — search, database lookup, sending an email, running a calculation — and Claude decides when to call them, what inputs to send, and how to use the results in its response. It's the mechanism that turns Claude from a text generator into something that can take actions and interact with real systems.
Articles
How Claude reaches beyond the conversation
Tool use is the mechanism that turns Claude from a text generator into something that can actually do things — search the web, run code, query your database, send messages.
What to automate first with AI
Every company has ten things they could automate with AI. About two of them are actually good starting points. Here's the framework for finding them.
How tool use works: what happens when Claude calls a function
Tool use is the mechanism that lets Claude do things, not just say things. Here's exactly what happens when Claude uses a tool.
What AI actually looks like for a data and analytics team
Data teams have a counterintuitive relationship with Claude — it is not about the analysis, it is about everything around it.