> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.agentscope.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Equip agents with tools, MCP servers, and skills through the toolkit

Tools are how an agent acts on the world: running shell commands, reading files, calling APIs. Each tool exposes itself to the LLM as a JSON Schema, and the agent invokes it through a unified streaming interface.

AgentScope organizes tool-related building blocks under three concepts:

| Concept        | Role                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Tool**       | Any class that satisfies the `ToolBase` interface, including the built-ins shipped with AgentScope and the `FunctionTool` / `MCPTool` adapters that wrap plain functions or MCP-server tools |
| **Toolkit**    | The container that registers tools, MCP clients, and skills, exposes their JSON schemas to the model, and dispatches each tool call to the right tool object                                 |
| **Tool Group** | A named bundle of tools, MCP clients, and skills that can be activated or deactivated as a unit; the agent toggles groups at runtime via the built-in meta tool                              |

A minimal `Toolkit` takes a list of tool instances:

```python theme={null}
from agentscope.tool import Toolkit, Bash, Read, Write, Edit

toolkit = Toolkit(
    tools=[Bash(), Read(), Write(), Edit()],
)
```

A `Toolkit` created with `tools` alone exposes those tools in the special `"basic"` group, which is always active. Adding `mcps`, `skills_or_loaders`, or extra `tool_groups` extends what the agent can reach.

## Next Steps

Each capability source has its own page:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Python Tool" icon="code" href="/versions/2.0.5dev/en/building-blocks/tool/python-tool">
    Built-in tools, custom tools, function wrapping, and tool middleware.
  </Card>

  <Card title="MCP" icon="plug" href="/versions/2.0.5dev/en/building-blocks/tool/mcp">
    Connect MCP servers and use their tools.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Skill" icon="book-open" href="/versions/2.0.5dev/en/building-blocks/tool/skill">
    Extend agent capabilities with markdown instruction sets.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Meta Tool" icon="toggle-on" href="/versions/2.0.5dev/en/building-blocks/tool/manage-tools">
    Let the agent activate and deactivate tool groups at runtime.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Further Reading

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Agent" icon="robot" href="/versions/2.0.5dev/en/building-blocks/agent/overview">
    How agents orchestrate tool calls in the ReAct loop.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Permission System" icon="shield" href="/versions/2.0.5dev/en/building-blocks/permission-system/overview">
    Fine-grained control over which tools can execute and when.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>