KNIME Documentation

Provide tools for an agent ​

Make workflows discoverable and callable by an agent by registering them as tools.

In KNIME, tools are ordinary workflows that an agent can invoke to perform specific tasks. Before an agent can use them, tools must be explicitly registered and provided to the agent.

When this is useful ​

Provide tools when you want an agent to:

  • Call other workflows to perform actions
  • Choose between multiple possible operations
  • Break down complex tasks into smaller steps

If your agent only needs to reason and respond without taking actions, see Create an agent instead.

Tools are explicit

Agents in KNIME never discover tools automatically. Only workflows you explicitly provide are available to the agent. This guide shows the basic technique, where all tools live in the same local folder. Alternatively, store tools across multiple folders, read each folder path separately, and concatenate the resulting path tables before converting workflows to tools.

How tool registration works ​

Tool registration in KNIME follows a simple pattern:

  1. Each tool is a separate workflow
  2. Tools are typically stored together in a single folder
  3. The folder is scanned at runtime
  4. Each workflow is converted into a callable tool object
  5. The resulting tool list is passed to the agent

This approach keeps tools modular, reusable, and easy to maintain.

Provide tools step by step ​

Prerequisites
  • One or more workflows that you want to use as tools
  • A basic agent workflow (see Create an agent)
  • Read access to the folder containing the tool workflows

1. Organize tool workflows ​

Place all tool workflows in a single folder in your workspace.

Each workflow in this folder will be treated as a potential tool.

Using a dedicated folder makes it easy to:

  • manage available tools
  • add or remove tools
  • refresh the tool list after changes

2. Scan the tool folder ​

Use the List Files/Folders node to scan the folder containing your tools.

Configure the node to:

  • point to the directory with the tool workflows
  • list workflow files only

The output is a table containing the paths to all tool workflows.

3. Convert workflows into tools ​

Use the Workflow to Tool node to convert each workflow into a tool.

Connect the output of List Files/Folders to the Workflow to Tool node.

For each workflow, the node extracts:

  • the tool name
  • the workflow description
  • defined parameters
  • available data inputs and outputs

The result is a table containing all registered tools and their metadata.

Verify tool readiness

The Workflow to Tool node displays icons that indicate whether a tool has a description, parameters, or data ports. Use these indicators to quickly spot incomplete tools.

4. Provide tools to the agent ​

Connect the output of the Workflow to Tool node to the Tool List input of the Agent Prompter or Agent Chat View node.

Only tools provided through this connection are available to the agent.

Result ​

The agent now has access to a defined set of tools.

During execution, the agent can:

  • reason about which tool to use
  • decide when to call a tool
  • pass parameters or data (if supported)
  • use the tool’s output to continue reasoning

Important notes ​

  • Tool workflows must be saved before they can be registered
  • Changes to tools require re-running the Workflow to Tool node
  • Tool availability is determined at execution time
  • Tool descriptions strongly influence agent behavior

Next steps ​