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A visitor asks your agent, “Did my order ship?” Answering from your knowledge base only gets you so far — to really help, the agent needs to do something: look the person up, check what’s on file, or hand the conversation to a teammate. That’s what Tools are for. Where your knowledge base supplies facts to retrieve and Skills give the agent structured reasoning, Tools give it actions — built-in functions it can call mid-conversation to fetch live data or make something happen. Open Expertise → Tools from the agent sidebar.

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Prerequisites

  • An agent (see Create an agent).
  • For CRM tools to be useful, your CRM should be set up so there are contacts and fields to act on.

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How tools work

During a conversation, the agent decides — based on the question and your instructions — whether a tool would help. If it does, the agent calls the tool, reads the result, and folds it into its answer. The visitor just sees a natural reply; behind the scenes the agent may have looked up their record or fetched the current date. When a tool runs, the chat shows a brief Tools used indicator so it’s clear the agent took an action rather than guessing. You can also see which tools ran for any message in Conversation history. The Tools screen lists the tools available to your agent, grouped by category, with a count of how many are enabled (for example, 6/9). Each tool shows its name, a short description of what it does, and its credit cost per use.
The Tools screen showing built-in tools grouped by category with enable toggles, credit-cost badges, and an enabled/total count in the header.
The exact set of tools available to an agent depends on the agent and may expand over time. Use the live Tools screen as the source of truth for what your agent can do today.

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Tool categories

Tools are organized into categories so you can see at a glance what kind of action each one performs.
CategoryWhat these tools do
KnowledgeSearch your trained knowledge base for relevant information.
CRMRead and write contact records — look someone up, save or update their details, check whether they exist.
UtilityGeneral helpers — get the current date and time, read a file the visitor attached, or hand off to a person.
ExternalReach systems outside A2V2.ai.
MemoryHelp the agent recall context across a conversation.

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Common built-in tools

These are representative built-in tools and their per-use credit cost. Most are Free; a few that trigger an outside action (such as sending a verification email) cost credits. Your live list may differ.
ToolCategoryWhat it doesCredits per use
Search Knowledge BaseKnowledgeSearches your trained sources for relevant information.Free
Lookup ContactCRMFinds a contact by email, phone, or name.Free
Check Contact ExistsCRMChecks whether a contact is already in your CRM.Free
Save ContactCRMSaves or updates a contact’s details, including custom fields.Free
Update ContactCRMUpdates the signed-in contact’s own profile details.Free
Request Identity VerificationCRMEmails a verification code to confirm the visitor’s identity mid-chat.1
Get Current Date & TimeUtilityProvides the current date and time for time-sensitive questions.Free
View Attached FileUtilityReads a file the visitor attached so the agent can answer about it.Free
Escalate to HumanUtilityHands the conversation to a person when the agent can’t help further.Free
Tool runs are billed in credits, the same currency as messages. Most tools are free to run; the ones that cost credits charge per execution. See Credits explained for how credits work.

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Tools vs. Skills — which do I use?

They solve different problems and work well together.
ToolsSkills
PurposeDo something — call a function, fetch live data, take an action.Reason through a complex, multi-step task in a consistent way.
ExampleLook up a contact; escalate to a human; read an attached file.Walk through refund eligibility; analyze a report step by step.
You configureWhich built-in tools the agent can use.The procedure: when to use it, the knowledge, the steps, the guardrails.
Set up inExpertise → ToolsExpertise → Skills (guide)
A good mental model: a Skill is the plan for handling a task, and Tools are the actions the agent can take while carrying it out.

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Tips

  • Reach for the CRM tools when you want the agent to recognize returning visitors or capture leads during a chat — pair them with your contact fields.
  • Keep Escalate to Human in mind for support agents: it’s a graceful fallback when a question is outside what the agent can answer.
  • After enabling tools, try a realistic question in the Sandbox and watch the Tools used indicator to confirm the agent calls the right one.

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Troubleshooting

Make sure the tool is enabled on the Tools screen, and that your instructions don’t tell the agent to avoid that action. The agent only calls a tool when the question clearly calls for it — test with a direct, relevant question in the Sandbox.
CRM tools act on your contacts. If your CRM is empty or the contact’s details don’t match what the visitor provided, there’s nothing to find. Confirm the contact exists and that the relevant fields are filled in.
The External category covers actions that reach systems outside A2V2.ai. If you need an integration that isn’t listed on your Tools screen, contact us at support@a2v2.ai so we can advise on what’s available.

Skills

Author structured reasoning for complex, multi-step tasks.

Add knowledge

Give the agent facts to retrieve and cite.

Test your agent

Watch tools fire on real questions before you publish.

Credits explained

See how tool runs and messages consume credits.