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Custom Tools

Create tools the LLM can call in opencode.

Custom tools are functions you create that the LLM can call during conversations. They work alongside opencode’s built-in tools like read, write, and bash.


Creating a tool

Tools are defined as TypeScript or JavaScript files. However, the tool definition can invoke scripts written in any language — TypeScript or JavaScript is only used for the tool definition itself.


Location

They can be defined:

  • Locally by placing them in the .opencode/tool/ directory of your project.
  • Or globally, by placing them in ~/.config/opencode/tool/.

Structure

The easiest way to create tools is using the tool() helper which provides type-safety and validation.

.opencode/tool/database.ts
import { tool } from "@opencode-ai/plugin"
export default tool({
description: "Query the project database",
args: {
query: tool.schema.string().describe("SQL query to execute"),
},
async execute(args) {
// Your database logic here
return `Executed query: ${args.query}`
},
})

The filename becomes the tool name. The above creates a database tool.


Multiple tools per file

You can also export multiple tools from a single file. Each export becomes a separate tool with the name <filename>_<exportname>:

.opencode/tool/math.ts
import { tool } from "@opencode-ai/plugin"
export const add = tool({
description: "Add two numbers",
args: {
a: tool.schema.number().describe("First number"),
b: tool.schema.number().describe("Second number"),
},
async execute(args) {
return args.a + args.b
},
})
export const multiply = tool({
description: "Multiply two numbers",
args: {
a: tool.schema.number().describe("First number"),
b: tool.schema.number().describe("Second number"),
},
async execute(args) {
return args.a * args.b
},
})

This creates two tools: math_add and math_multiply.


Arguments

You can use tool.schema, which is just Zod, to define argument types.

args: {
query: tool.schema.string().describe("SQL query to execute")
}

You can also import Zod directly and return a plain object:

import { z } from "zod"
export default {
description: "Tool description",
args: {
param: z.string().describe("Parameter description"),
},
async execute(args, context) {
// Tool implementation
return "result"
},
}

Context

Tools receive context about the current session:

.opencode/tool/project.ts
import { tool } from "@opencode-ai/plugin"
export default tool({
description: "Get project information",
args: {},
async execute(args, context) {
// Access context information
const { agent, sessionID, messageID } = context
return `Agent: ${agent}, Session: ${sessionID}, Message: ${messageID}`
},
})

Examples

Write a tool in Python

You can write your tools in any language you want. Here’s an example that adds two numbers using Python.

First, create the tool as a Python script:

.opencode/tool/add.py
import sys
a = int(sys.argv[1])
b = int(sys.argv[2])
print(a + b)

Then create the tool definition that invokes it:

.opencode/tool/python-add.ts
import { tool } from "@opencode-ai/plugin"
export default tool({
description: "Add two numbers using Python",
args: {
a: tool.schema.number().describe("First number"),
b: tool.schema.number().describe("Second number"),
},
async execute(args) {
const result = await Bun.$`python3 .opencode/tool/add.py ${args.a} ${args.b}`.text()
return result.trim()
},
})

Here we are using the Bun.$ utility to run the Python script.