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guides/tools.md 2026-03-31 16:24 UTC to 2026-04-01 05:53 UTC

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Using tools

import { File, Functions, ImageSquare, Code, } from "@components/react/oai/platform/ui/Icon.react";

When generating model responses, you can extend capabilities using built‑in tools, function calling, tool search, and remote MCP servers. These enable the model to search the web, retrieve from your files, load deferred tool definitions at runtime, call your own functions, or access third‑party services. Only gpt-5.4 and later models support tool_search.

Available tools

Here's an overview of the tools available in the OpenAI platform—select one of them for further guidance on usage.

Call custom code to give the model access to additional data and capabilities. Include data from the Internet in model response generation. Give the model access to new capabilities via Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Upload and reuse versioned skill bundles in hosted shell environments. Run shell commands in hosted containers or in your own local runtime. Create agentic workflows that enable a model to control a computer interface. Generate or edit images using GPT Image. Search the contents of uploaded files for context when generating a response. Dynamically load relevant tools into the model’s context to optimize token usage.

Usage in the API

When making a request to generate a model response, you usually enable tool access by specifying configurations in the tools parameter. Each tool has its own unique configuration requirements—see the Available tools section for detailed instructions.

Based on the provided prompt, the model automatically decides whether to use a configured tool. For instance, if your prompt requests information beyond the model's training cutoff date and web search is enabled, the model will typically invoke the web search tool to retrieve relevant, up-to-date information.

Some advanced workflows can also load additional tool definitions during the interaction. For example, tool search can defer function definitions until the model decides they are needed.

You can explicitly control or guide this behavior by setting the tool_choice parameter in the API request.