Skip to content

Built-in Provider Tools#

AG2 includes built-in tools that map to server-side capabilities offered by LLM providers. These tools are executed by the provider's API — not locally — and require no function implementation on your side.

Tool Anthropic OpenAI Gemini
CodeExecutionTool ✓ ✓ ✓
WebSearchTool ✓ ✓ ✓
WebFetchTool ✓ ✗ ✓
ShellTool ✓ ✓ ✗
MCPServerTool ✓ ✓ ✗
ImageGenerationTool ✗ ✓ ✗
MemoryTool ✓ ✗ ✗

Gives the model access to real-time web search results.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import AnthropicConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import WebSearchTool, UserLocation

agent = Agent(
    "researcher",
    config=AnthropicConfig(model="claude-sonnet-4-6"),
    tools=[
        WebSearchTool(
            max_uses=5,
            user_location=UserLocation(country="US"),
            allowed_domains=["github.com", "pypi.org"],
            blocked_domains=["pinterest.com"],
        ),
    ],
)

Not all parameters are supported by every provider. Unsupported parameters are silently ignored.

Parameter Anthropic OpenAI Gemini
max_uses ✓ ✓ ✗
user_location ✓ ✓ ✗
search_context_size ✗ ✓ ✗
allowed_domains ✓ ✓ ✗
blocked_domains ✓ ✗ ✓

Web Fetch#

Fetches full content from specific URLs. Useful for reading documentation, articles, or PDFs.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import AnthropicConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import WebFetchTool

agent = Agent(
    "researcher",
    config=AnthropicConfig(model="claude-sonnet-4-6"),
    tools=[
        WebFetchTool(
            max_uses=3,
            max_content_tokens=50000,
            citations=True,
        ),
    ],
)
Parameter Anthropic Gemini
max_uses ✓ ✗
allowed_domains ✓ ✗
blocked_domains ✓ ✗
citations ✓ ✗
max_content_tokens ✓ ✗

Note

OpenAI does not support web fetch. Using WebFetchTool with an OpenAI config will raise an error.

Code Execution#

Lets the model write and run code inline during a conversation.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import AnthropicConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import CodeExecutionTool

agent = Agent(
    "analyst",
    config=AnthropicConfig(model="claude-sonnet-4-6"),
    tools=[CodeExecutionTool()],
)

The tool accepts a version parameter for provider version pinning:

CodeExecutionTool(version="code_execution_20250825")

Memory#

Enables Claude to store and retrieve information across conversations. Claude can create, read, update, and delete files in a /memories directory.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import AnthropicConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import MemoryTool

agent = Agent(
    "assistant",
    config=AnthropicConfig(model="claude-sonnet-4-6"),
    tools=[MemoryTool()],
)

Note

MemoryTool is currently only supported by Anthropic.

Shell#

Gives the model the ability to run shell commands. The execution environment depends on the provider.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import AnthropicConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import ShellTool

agent = Agent(
    "devops",
    config=AnthropicConfig(model="claude-sonnet-4-6"),
    tools=[ShellTool()],
)

OpenAI supports configuring the execution environment:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import OpenAIResponsesConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import ShellTool
from autogen.beta.tools.builtin.shell import ContainerAutoEnvironment, NetworkPolicy

agent = Agent(
    "devops",
    config=OpenAIResponsesConfig(model="gpt-4.1"),
    tools=[
        ShellTool(
            environment=ContainerAutoEnvironment(
                network_policy=NetworkPolicy(allowed_domains=["pypi.org"]),
            ),
        ),
    ],
)
Environment Description
ContainerAutoEnvironment Provider-managed container with optional network policy
ContainerReferenceEnvironment Reference an existing container by ID
LocalEnvironment Client-side execution

Warning

ShellTool gives the model direct shell access. Use it only with trusted prompts and consider restricting the environment.

MCP Server#

Integrates external MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers, giving the model access to remote tools.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import AnthropicConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import MCPServerTool

agent = Agent(
    "assistant",
    config=AnthropicConfig(model="claude-sonnet-4-6"),
    tools=[
        MCPServerTool(
            server_url="https://mcp.example.com/sse",
            server_label="my-tools",
            allowed_tools=["search", "summarize"],
        ),
    ],
)
Parameter Anthropic OpenAI
server_url ✓ ✓
server_label ✓ ✓
authorization_token ✓ ✗
description ✓ ✗
allowed_tools ✓ ✓
blocked_tools ✓ ✗
headers ✗ ✓

Image Generation#

Instructs the model to generate images inline during a conversation. Generated images are returned via reply.images.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
from autogen.beta import Agent
from autogen.beta.config import OpenAIResponsesConfig
from autogen.beta.tools import ImageGenerationTool

agent = Agent(
    "designer",
    config=OpenAIResponsesConfig(model="gpt-4.1"),
    tools=[
        ImageGenerationTool(
            quality="high",
            size="1024x1024",
            output_format="png",
            background="transparent",
        ),
    ],
)

reply = await agent.ask("Generate a logo for a coffee shop.")
images: list[bytes] = reply.images
Parameter Description
quality "low", "medium", "high", or "auto"
size e.g. "1024x1024", "1536x1024", or "auto"
background "transparent", "opaque", or "auto"
output_format "png", "jpeg", or "webp"
output_compression 0–100, for jpeg/webp only
partial_images 1–3, number of partial images to stream

Note

ImageGenerationTool is only supported by OpenAI (Responses API). Using it with other providers will raise an error.

Anthropic Tool Versions#

Anthropic versions their server-side tools. Newer versions support dynamic filtering (Claude writes code to filter results before loading into context), but require Opus 4.6 or Sonnet 4.6.

Set the version on each built-in tool (defaults match the older Anthropic tool revisions):

1
2
3
4
5
6
from autogen.beta.tools import WebFetchTool, WebSearchTool

tools = [
    WebSearchTool(version="web_search_20260209"),  # default: web_search_20250305
    WebFetchTool(version="web_fetch_20260209"),    # default: web_fetch_20250910
]

The default versions are compatible with all Claude models including Haiku.