Tool Composition

Overview

Individual tools are powerful. Composed tools are transformative.

Tool composition chains outputs from one tool into inputs of another, creating complex workflows from simple pieces.

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The Power of Composition

Simple Tool + Simple Tool + Simple Tool = Complex Workflow

search_web() → parse_results() → summarize() 
 ↓ ↓ ↓
"AI trends" → 10 articles → "AI is growing in 3 areas..."

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Tool Chains: Sequential Execution

class ToolChain:
 def __init__(self, *tools):
 self.tools = tools

 def execute(self, initial_input):
 result = initial_input
 for tool in self.tools:
 result = tool.call(result)
 if not result['success']:
 return {"error": result['error']}
 return result

# Usage
chain = ToolChain(
 search_tool,
 parse_tool,
 summarize_tool
)

result = chain.execute("Latest AI breakthroughs")
# Chains

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Conditional Chains

class ConditionalChain:
 def execute(self, data):
 # Step 1: Process
 processed = process_tool.call(data)

 # Step 2: Check quality
 if processed['quality'] > 0.8:
 # High quality: summarize directly
 return summarize_tool.call(processed['data'])
 else:
 # Low quality: enhance first
 enhanced = enhance_tool.call(processed['data'])
 return summarize_tool.call(enhanced['data'])

---

Parallel Execution

class ParallelChain:
 async def execute(self, data):
 # Run multiple tools in parallel
 results = await asyncio.gather(
 search_web(data),
 search_docs(data),
 search_archives(data)
)

 # Aggregate results
 combined = aggregate(results)
 return summarize(combined)

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Error Handling in Chains

class RobustChain:
 def execute(self, data):
 for i, tool in enumerate(self.tools):
 try:
 data = tool.call(data)
 except Exception as e:
 # Try fallback
 fallback = self.fallbacks.get(i)
 if fallback:
 data = fallback.call(data)
 else:
 return {"error": f"Step {i} failed: {e}"}
 return {"success": True, "data": data}

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Best Practices

• Use type hints to ensure tool compatibility
• Validate at each step
• Handle errors gracefully
• Monitor performance
• Log execution traces

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Last Updated: August 9, 2026