Tool Registry
How AGH exposes daemon-owned tools to operators and managed agents through one policy-checked registry.
- Audience
- Operators running durable agent work
- Focus
- Tools guidance shaped for scanability, day-two clarity, and operator context.
The tool registry is the runtime surface that lets AGH expose structured actions without turning every capability into a one-off prompt convention. Tools have stable IDs, JSON schemas, availability diagnostics, policy checks, redaction rules, and invocation events.
Use this page when you need to understand what a tool is, how agents discover tools, and how the operator CLI relates to the session-bound MCP tool surface.
In one sentence
An AGH tool is a daemon-owned action with a typed input schema, a typed result, policy enforcement, and an audit trail.
Why AGH has tools
Agent sessions need more than text prompts. They need to inspect runtime state, claim work, extend leases, read memory, search skills, inspect hooks, and report progress without scraping prose or calling private Go functions.
The registry gives those actions one shape:
- discover what exists
- inspect the schema before calling it
- invoke through daemon policy
- redact sensitive input fields
- record enough evidence for operators to audit what happened
Discovery path
List or search the registry
Operators use the CLI. Managed agents use the hosted MCP tool surface.
agh tool list -o json
agh tool search memory --limit 5 -o jsonWhat happened: AGH returned operator-visible descriptors and availability diagnostics for the current scope.
Inspect the tool before invoking it
agh tool info agh__skill_view -o jsonWhat happened: AGH returned the descriptor, input schema, output shape, policy requirements, and diagnostics for one tool ID.
Invoke through daemon policy
agh tool invoke agh__tool_info --input '{"tool_id":"agh__skill_view"}' -o jsonWhat happened: AGH validated JSON input, applied policy, dispatched the daemon-owned tool, and returned a structured result.
Tool surfaces
| Surface | Actor | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
agh tool list/search/info/invoke | Operator or script | Inspect and invoke operator-visible registry tools. |
agh toolsets list/info | Operator or script | Inspect grouped tool exposure and expansion diagnostics. |
| Hosted MCP tools | Managed agent session | Let an agent discover and invoke session-scoped tools without shell scraping. |
| HTTP/UDS API | Web UI, integrations, local tooling | Share the same daemon handler contract behind CLI and browser surfaces. |
Default discovery tools
The normal managed-agent path starts with discovery, not blind invocation:
agh__bootstrapagh__catalogagh__tool_searchagh__tool_infoagh__skill_searchagh__skill_view
The expected pattern is:
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That sequence lets the agent inspect available actions and schemas before it commits to a call.
What belongs in the tool registry
Good tool candidates:
- runtime state inspection
- task claim, heartbeat, completion, failure, and release
- memory read/search/write operations
- skill and capability discovery
- hook, automation, and extension lifecycle operations
- bridge and network diagnostics
Poor tool candidates:
- UI-only convenience flows with no daemon state
- arbitrary shell escape hatches
- hidden aliases for behavior that already has a canonical primitive
- raw secret retrieval
Related pages
- Toolsets explains grouped exposure.
- Policy and Invocation explains validation, approvals, sensitive fields, and diagnostics.
- Agent Definitions explains how tools fit into agent startup.
- SKILL.md Format explains how skills teach agents when to use tools.
- Tool CLI Reference is the generated command reference.