deepseek-harness/docs/user/develop/basic/tool.md

Build a tool

English | 中文

A tool is a capability the model can call. This guide builds one with defineTool.

Minimal example

import type { Context } from 'cordis'
import { defineTool } from '@deepseek-ai/dsh-tools'

export const name = 'my-tool'
export const inject = ['tools']

export function apply(ctx: Context) {
  ctx.tools.register(defineTool({
    name: 'greet',
    description: 'Greet someone by name.',
    parameters: {
      name: { type: 'string', required: true, description: 'The name to greet' },
    },
    output: {
      schema: { type: 'string' },
      render: (_args, value) => [{ type: 'text', text: value }],
    },
    async execute(args) {
      // args is inferred as { name: string }.
      return `Hello, ${args.name}!`
    },
  }))
}

Parameter definitions

parameters uses a compact format that the framework converts to the JSON Schema sent to the model.

Primitive types

export const parameters = {
  path: { type: 'string', required: true },
  limit: { type: 'integer' },
  recursive: { type: 'boolean' },
  parent: { type: 'null' },
}
// Inferred type: { path: string; limit?: number; recursive?: boolean; parent?: null }

Enums

export const parameters = {
  mode: { type: 'string', required: true, enum: ['read', 'write', 'append'] },
}
// Inferred type: { mode: 'read' | 'write' | 'append' }

Nested objects

export const parameters = {
  options: {
    type: 'object',
    additionalProperties: true,
    properties: {
      timeout: { type: 'number' },
      retries: { type: 'number' },
    },
  },
}
// The declared fields are inferred; additional JSON-valued keys are allowed.

Arrays

export const parameters = {
  tags: {
    type: 'array',
    items: { type: 'string' },
  },
}
// Inferred type: { tags?: string[] }

Property fields

Field	Type	Meaning
type	'string' | 'number' | 'integer' | 'boolean' | 'null' | 'object' | 'array' | 'json'	Value type; json accepts any lossless JSON value
required	true	Marks the property required and affects inference
description	string	Description sent to the model
enum / const	matching scalar values	Allowed literal values, checked at author and runtime boundaries
properties	ParameterSchemaSpec	Nested properties for an object
additionalProperties	true | false	Required on every explicit object node
items	ValueSchemaSpec	Element schema for an array
oneOf	at least two ValueSchemaSpec branches	Requires exactly one matching branch; used instead of type

The outer parameters map is an implicit open object. Explicit nested objects choose their openness; raw JSON Schema registered without defineTool keeps JSON Schema's open-by-default behavior.

The execute function

execute receives validated, inferred args and an exec execution context:

import { defineTool } from '@deepseek-ai/dsh-tools'

export const tool = defineTool({
  name: 'example',
  description: 'Return an example result.',
  parameters: {},
  output: {
    schema: { type: 'string' },
    render: (_args, value) => [{ type: 'text', text: value }],
  },
  async execute(args, exec) {
    // args: inferred from parameters
    // exec: ToolExecution context

    // Return the value declared by output.schema.
    void args
    void exec
    return 'result here'
  },
})

Return value

execute returns the lossless JSON value declared by output.schema. output.render(args, value) separately turns that validated value into the Native/model-facing content:

output: {
  schema: {
    type: 'object',
    additionalProperties: false,
    properties: {
      path: { type: 'string', required: true },
      content: { type: 'string', required: true },
    },
  },
  render: (_args, value) => [{ type: 'text', text: value.content }],
},
async execute(args) {
  return { path: args.path, content: await readFile(args.path, 'utf8') }
}

The canonical value is available to execution-time programmatic callers and is not persisted in tool/result; the rendered content and optional presentationMeta are the replayable projections. A body value that does not satisfy the schema, or is not lossless JSON, becomes an INVALID_TOOL_OUTPUT failure.

Argument validation

Before calling execute, defineTool validates model-generated arguments. Invalid input raises ToolArgsError; the framework turns it into an isError result so the model can correct its call.

Do not repeat type validation inside execute.

Presentation

A tool can define transport-neutral presentation methods for terminal and web clients:

defineTool({
  name: 'bash',
  // ...
  output: {
    schema: { type: 'string' },
    render: (_args, value) => [{ type: 'text', text: value }],
  },
  presentCall(args) {
    return {
      card: 'terminal',
      title: args.command,
    }
  },
  presentResult(args, result) {
    return {
      card: 'terminal',
      output: result.content.map(b => b.type === 'text' ? b.text : '').join(''),
    }
  },
})

presentCall and presentResult are pure functions. Streaming UI and session replay may call them more than once.

Registration and unloading

ctx.tools.register() returns a disposer, but a registration made through ctx is already tracked by the framework. Unloading the plugin removes the tool automatically, so the plugin does not call the disposer itself.

// This is sufficient:
ctx.tools.register(defineTool({ /* ... */ }))

// No saved disposer or extra cleanup registration is needed.

Complete example

This tool counts files in a directory:

import type { Context } from 'cordis'
import { defineTool } from '@deepseek-ai/dsh-tools'
import { readdir } from 'node:fs/promises'

export const name = 'file-counter'
export const inject = ['tools']

export function apply(ctx: Context) {
  ctx.tools.register(defineTool({
    name: 'count_files',
    description: 'Count files in a directory.',
    parameters: {
      path: { type: 'string', required: true, description: 'Directory path' },
      extension: { type: 'string', description: 'Filter by extension (e.g. ".ts")' },
    },
    output: {
      schema: {
        type: 'object',
        additionalProperties: false,
        properties: {
          count: { type: 'integer', required: true },
          files: { type: 'array', required: true, items: { type: 'string' } },
        },
      },
      render: (_args, value) => [{ type: 'text', text: `Found ${value.count} files.` }],
    },
    async execute(args) {
      const entries = await readdir(args.path, { withFileTypes: true })
      let files = entries.filter(e => e.isFile())
      if (args.extension) {
        files = files.filter(f => f.name.endsWith(args.extension!))
      }
      return { count: files.length, files: files.map(file => file.name) }
    },
  }))
}

Next steps

• Plugin configuration — make the tool configurable
• Capability layering — understand the interface/implementation/consumer pattern