Add Tools Skill
September 11, 2026 · View on GitHub
You are an expert at creating tool configurations for Sim integrations. Your job is to read API documentation and create properly structured tool files.
Your Task
When the user asks you to create tools for a service:
- Use Context7 or WebFetch to read the service's API documentation
- Create the tools directory structure
- Generate properly typed tool configurations
Hard Rule: No Guessed Response Schemas
If the docs do not clearly show the response JSON for a tool, you MUST tell the user exactly which outputs are unknown and stop short of guessing.
- Do NOT invent response field names
- Do NOT infer nested paths from nearby endpoints
- Do NOT guess array item shapes
- Do NOT write
transformResponseagainst unverified payloads
If the response shape is unknown, do one of these instead:
- Ask the user for sample responses
- Ask the user for test credentials so you can verify live responses
- Implement only the endpoints whose outputs are documented
- Leave the tool unimplemented and explicitly say why
Directory Structure
Create files in apps/sim/tools/{service}/:
tools/{service}/
├── index.ts # Barrel export
├── types.ts # Parameter & response types
└── {action}.ts # Individual tool files (one per operation)
Tool Configuration Structure
Choose the execution boundary first
Every tool must use exactly one of these configurations:
- In-process operation (preferred): use
InternalToolConfigwhen the executor and the implementation run in the same Sim process/trust/runtime plane. Materialize typedoperation.input, implement the handler underapps/sim/lib/internal/{service}/execute-tool.ts, and register every tool ID inapps/sim/lib/internal/tool-operations/registry.server.ts. - External provider request: use
ToolConfig.requestonly when the URL is an absolute external HTTP(S) provider endpoint.
Never set a tool URL to /api/..., construct an absolute URL back to Sim, declare
request.internal, add a directExecution property (it fails bun run check:tool-request-boundary), import a route module, or create an API route merely to normalize files,
authorize access, or reuse server code. A real browser/API route may remain as a thin adapter, but
the route and the tool must call the same operation directly. A true cross-process/capability
boundary uses an explicit server client and is not disguised as a tool self-hop.
For protected Sim resources, the internal handler calls the domain's authorized application use
case with trusted execution context; use the migrate-application-operation skill.
External provider request
Use this structure only for an absolute external provider API:
import type { {ServiceName}{Action}Params } from '@/tools/{service}/types'
import type { ToolConfig } from '@/tools/types'
interface {ServiceName}{Action}Response {
success: boolean
output: {
// Define output structure here
}
}
export const {serviceName}{Action}Tool: ToolConfig<
{ServiceName}{Action}Params,
{ServiceName}{Action}Response
> = {
id: '{service}_{action}', // snake_case, matches tool name
name: '{Service} {Action}', // Human readable
description: 'Brief description', // One sentence
version: '1.0.0',
// OAuth config (if service uses OAuth)
oauth: {
required: true,
provider: '{service}', // Must match OAuth provider ID
},
params: {
// Hidden params (system-injected, e.g. the OAuth accessToken)
accessToken: {
type: 'string',
required: true,
visibility: 'hidden',
description: 'OAuth access token',
},
// User-only params (credentials, api key, IDs user must provide)
someId: {
type: 'string',
required: true,
visibility: 'user-only',
description: 'The ID of the resource',
},
// User-or-LLM params (everything else, can be provided by user OR computed by LLM)
query: {
type: 'string',
required: false, // Use false for optional
visibility: 'user-or-llm',
description: 'Search query',
},
},
request: {
url: (params) => `https://api.service.com/v1/resource/${params.id}`,
method: 'POST',
headers: (params) => ({
Authorization: `Bearer ${params.accessToken}`,
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
}),
body: (params) => ({
// Request body - only for POST/PUT/PATCH
// Trim ID fields to prevent copy-paste whitespace errors:
// userId: params.userId?.trim(),
}),
},
transformResponse: async (response: Response) => {
const data = await response.json()
return {
success: true,
output: {
// Map API response to output
// Use ?? null for nullable fields
// Use ?? [] for optional arrays
},
}
},
outputs: {
// Define each output field
},
}
In-process operation
import type { InternalToolConfig } from '@/tools/types'
export const {serviceName}{Action}Tool: InternalToolConfig<
{ServiceName}{Action}Params,
{ServiceName}{Action}Response
> = {
id: '{service}_{action}',
name: '{Service} {Action}',
description: 'Brief description',
version: '1.0.0',
params: {
// Same canonical metadata as an external tool.
},
operation: {
input: (params) => ({
// Map resolved tool params into the typed semantic operation input.
}),
},
outputs: {
// Define each output field.
},
}
The registered handler accepts InternalToolOperationCall, validates request.input, uses only
trusted request.context for authority, forwards request.signal, and returns the same bounded
Response contract expected by the tool executor. It has no URL, method, request headers, fetch
fallback, or caller-controlled _context authority.
Critical Rules for Parameters
Visibility Options
'hidden'- System-injected (OAuth tokens, internal params). User never sees.'user-only'- User must provide (credentials, api keys, account-specific IDs)'user-or-llm'- User provides OR LLM can compute (search queries, content, filters, most fall into this category)
Parameter Types
'string'- Text values'number'- Numeric values'boolean'- True/false'json'- Complex objects (NOT 'object', use 'json')'file'- Single file'file[]'- Multiple files
Required vs Optional
- Always explicitly set
required: trueorrequired: false - Optional params should have
required: false
Resolved Secrets and Provenance Boundaries
Classify every request field before implementing the tool.
This is opt-in, not a blanket integration migration. Add a model-input declaration only when the service's official documentation or an unambiguous local execution path proves that the exact field is consumed by an AI model. If that cannot be established, preserve existing tool behavior and leave the field unannotated.
- Ordinary provider/API input: leave it unchanged. Explicit
{{...}}references resolve and are sent with their normal request semantics. A URL, domain, resource ID, control field, or opaque payload is not model-visible merely because the provider is AI-backed or may process the referenced resource later. - Text or structured content consumed by an AI model: declare
request.modelInputfor an external provider request oroperation.modelInputfor an in-process operation, withmode: 'project'and select only the exact model-visible fields. The shared executor replaces activated Sim secrets with canonical{{NAME}}labels before request formatting. For nested or JSON-string fields, use a small shared selector plusapplyProjected; verify that selecting the rebuilt params reproduces the projected selection. - Serialized model content sent directly to an external provider: include the serialized
top-level param in
request.modelInput. Project the private copy before the existing request formatter parses it; keep formatter behavior deterministic when a whole-value placeholder is not valid in the serialized grammar. Do not introduce a second hard-rejection path. - Opaque model input owned by an in-process operation such as inline audio, image, video, or
document bytes: add
privateInputPathsto themode: 'project'operation model-input declaration, or usemode: 'private-provenance'withinputPathswhen there is no textual projection (see themodelInputunion inapps/sim/tools/types.ts). Do not select storage keys, paths, signed URLs, or ordinary remote URLs as byte provenance; the owning operation must authorize stored bytes independently at model egress. The operation must callvalidateOpaqueModelInputProvenancebefore downloading or sending content to the model and must apply the workspace-file provenance guard before reading a persisted workspace file. - Sim-owned durable storage or internal execution handoff that can later enter a workflow/model
(table cells, Agent memory, knowledge documents/chunks, workspace-file contents, or child-workflow
input): transport encrypted field-scoped provenance with
operation.secretProvenance. The operation validates the exact selection and trusted scope, then persists, imports, or propagates it at the owning boundary. Preserve shared legacy behavior for rows/files whose provenance marker isNULL; never invent a tool-local migration rule.
Hard rules:
- Never substitute secret plaintext into source or serialize plaintext provenance.
- Never hand-roll private provenance headers/envelopes; the shared
executeToolboundary owns transport and strips private metadata from functional results. - Never attach private provenance to an external URL. Project proven
model-visible external fields with
request.modelInput; otherwise preserve ordinary request semantics. Use a registered in-process operation when encrypted provenance must cross the boundary. - Never sanitize arbitrary third-party tool results. Projection applies only to secrets activated by Sim's resolved-secret provenance for that execution/tool call.
- Do not add provenance merely because a value is persisted, returned by a tool, or appears in a
filename. Require a concrete Sim
{{...}}resolution path and a later model/log boundary. If an unsupported field can resolve a secret but does not justify durable tracking (for example afile_writepath), reject it at that exact ingress. - At diagnostic boundaries, project only values carrying execution-scoped provenance. Ordinary provider responses, filenames, URLs, and errors remain unchanged when Sim did not resolve a secret into them.
Add focused tests covering named projection, ordinary identical text without provenance, nested and
serialized shape handling, unchanged ordinary external inputs, malformed/incomplete private metadata
failing closed, headerless legacy requests, and absence of private metadata in the public tool result.
For durable sinks, also cover legacy NULL markers, exact-empty new writes, tracked secret writes,
stale/missing sidecars, and scope isolation.
Critical Rules for Outputs
File Downloads and Generated Files
Internal operations return createInternalToolFileResult / createInternalToolFilesResult from
lib/internal/tool-operations/file-result.ts with bounded Buffers and a callback that places the
stored descriptors in the response. Their handlers preserve this result through dispatch, using
InternalToolOperationHandler<InternalToolOperationResult>. Do not serialize file bytes as base64
JSON: the executor's 10 MiB response cap runs before ordinary file postprocessing or large-value
externalization. The shared executor stores files using trusted run or Copilot ownership.
External endpoints that return raw binary files explicitly declare request.responseType: 'binary'
and return output.file with { name, mimeType, data: buffer, size } from transformResponse.
The executor applies the bounded file-transfer budget and persists the descriptor. This opt-in is
for raw binary responses, not provider JSON containing base64 or tools that fetch attachments later.
Keep provider-specific limits and bounded reads; a file declaration is not permission to enlarge
arbitrary JSON responses.
Attachment readers that download files inside transformResponse need their own bounded reads:
the first response cap does not cover subsequent fetches. Accept ToolResponseContext as the third
transform argument, forward its signal, and share one AttachmentDownloadBudget across sequential
downloads. Prefer raw provider endpoints over base64 metadata. Return the same file object in the
declared file / file[] output and nested message associations; FileToolProcessor stores it once
and replaces every alias with the same UserFile in both workflow and Copilot execution.
Preserve stored UserFile fields (id, key, url, context, type, name, size) in transforms;
rebuilding the old { name, mimeType, data, size } shape discards the reference. File outputs do not
need duplicate inline text/base64 aliases; the file system handles content materialization. When
an existing tool explicitly exposes content aliases in its contract, preserve its legacy version and
use the existing block/tool version pattern for a file-only output. Test a file over 10 MiB through
executor admission, single persistence, trusted ownership, and the unchanged JSON cap. Avoid adding
top-level filename, size, MIME type, URL, or success fields that merely repeat the canonical file or
tool result; keep additional provider fields only when they convey distinct information.
Output Types
'string','number','boolean'- Primitives'json'- Complex objects (use this, NOT 'object')'array'- Arrays withitemsproperty'object'- Objects withpropertiesproperty
Optional Outputs
Add optional: true for fields that may not exist in the response:
closedAt: {
type: 'string',
description: 'When the issue was closed',
optional: true,
},
Typed JSON Outputs
When using type: 'json' and you know the object shape in advance, always define the inner structure using properties so downstream consumers know what fields are available:
// BAD: Opaque json with no info about what's inside
metadata: {
type: 'json',
description: 'Response metadata',
},
// GOOD: Define the known properties
metadata: {
type: 'json',
description: 'Response metadata',
properties: {
id: { type: 'string', description: 'Unique ID' },
status: { type: 'string', description: 'Current status' },
count: { type: 'number', description: 'Total count' },
},
},
For arrays of objects, define the item structure:
items: {
type: 'array',
description: 'List of items',
items: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
id: { type: 'string', description: 'Item ID' },
name: { type: 'string', description: 'Item name' },
},
},
},
Only use bare type: 'json' without properties when the shape is truly dynamic. Unknown is not the same as dynamic — see the Hard Rule above.
Critical Rules for transformResponse
Handle Nullable Fields
ALWAYS use ?? null for fields that may be undefined:
transformResponse: async (response: Response) => {
const data = await response.json()
return {
success: true,
output: {
id: data.id,
title: data.title,
body: data.body ?? null, // May be undefined
assignee: data.assignee ?? null, // May be undefined
labels: data.labels ?? [], // Default to empty array
closedAt: data.closed_at ?? null, // May be undefined
},
}
}
Never Output Raw JSON Dumps
DON'T do this:
output: {
data: data, // BAD - raw JSON dump
}
DO this instead - extract meaningful fields:
output: {
id: data.id,
name: data.name,
status: data.status,
metadata: {
createdAt: data.created_at,
updatedAt: data.updated_at,
},
}
Types File Pattern
Create types.ts with interfaces for all params and responses:
import type { ToolResponse } from '@/tools/types'
// Parameter interfaces
export interface {Service}{Action}Params {
accessToken: string
requiredField: string
optionalField?: string
}
// Response interfaces (extend ToolResponse)
export interface {Service}{Action}Response extends ToolResponse {
output: {
field1: string
field2: number
optionalField?: string | null
}
}
Index.ts Barrel Export Pattern
// Export all tools
export { serviceTool1 } from './{action1}'
export { serviceTool2 } from './{action2}'
// Export types
export * from './types'
Registering Tools
After creating tools:
- Import tools in
apps/sim/tools/registry.ts - Add to the
toolsobject with snake_case keys (alphabetically):
import { serviceActionTool } from '@/tools/{service}'
export const tools = {
// ... existing tools ...
{service}_{action}: serviceActionTool,
}
- Regenerate the tool metadata artifacts:
bun run tool-metadata:generate
Client code reads a tool's params/outputs from generated metadata rather than
importing the registry, so a tool you add, change or remove is invisible to the UI until
these are regenerated — and CI fails on stale artifacts. Commit the result. See
.agents/skills/tool-registry-boundary/SKILL.md.
Wiring Tools into the Block (Required)
After registering in tools/registry.ts, you MUST also update the block definition at apps/sim/blocks/blocks/{service}.ts. This is not optional — tools are only usable from the UI if they are wired into the block.
1. Add to tools.access
tools: {
access: [
// existing tools...
'service_new_action', // Add every new tool ID here
],
config: { ... }
}
2. Add operation dropdown options
If the block uses an operation dropdown, add an option for each new tool:
{
id: 'operation',
type: 'dropdown',
options: [
// existing options...
{ label: 'New Action', id: 'new_action' }, // id maps to what tools.config.tool returns
],
}
3. Add subBlocks for new tool params
For each new tool, add subBlocks covering all its required params (and optional ones where useful). Apply condition to show them only for the right operation, and mark required params with required:
// Required param for new_action
{
id: 'someParam',
title: 'Some Param',
type: 'short-input',
placeholder: 'e.g., value',
condition: { field: 'operation', value: 'new_action' },
required: { field: 'operation', value: 'new_action' },
},
// Optional param — put in advanced mode
{
id: 'optionalParam',
title: 'Optional Param',
type: 'short-input',
condition: { field: 'operation', value: 'new_action' },
mode: 'advanced',
},
4. Update tools.config.tool
Ensure the tool selector returns the correct tool ID for every new operation. The simplest pattern:
tool: (params) => `service_${params.operation}`,
// If operation dropdown IDs already match tool IDs, this requires no change.
If the dropdown IDs differ from tool IDs, add explicit mappings:
tool: (params) => {
const map: Record<string, string> = {
new_action: 'service_new_action',
// ...
}
return map[params.operation] ?? `service_${params.operation}`
},
5. Update tools.config.params
Add any type coercions needed for new params (runs at execution time, after variable resolution):
params: (params) => {
const result: Record<string, unknown> = {}
if (params.limit != null && params.limit !== '') result.limit = Number(params.limit)
if (params.newParamName) result.toolParamName = params.newParamName // rename if IDs differ
return result
},
6. Add new outputs
Add any new fields returned by the new tools to the block outputs:
outputs: {
// existing outputs...
newField: { type: 'string', description: 'Description of new field' },
}
7. Add new inputs
Add new subBlock param IDs to the block inputs section:
inputs: {
// existing inputs...
someParam: { type: 'string', description: 'Param description' },
optionalParam: { type: 'string', description: 'Optional param description' },
}
Block wiring checklist
- New tool IDs added to
tools.access - Operation dropdown has an option for each new tool
- SubBlocks cover all required params for each new tool
- SubBlocks have correct
condition(only show for the right operation) - Optional/rarely-used params set to
mode: 'advanced' -
tools.config.toolreturns correct ID for every new operation -
tools.config.paramshandles any ID remapping or type coercions - New outputs added to block
outputs - New params added to block
inputs
V2 Tool Pattern
If creating V2 tools (API-aligned outputs), use _v2 suffix:
- Tool ID:
{service}_{action}_v2 - Variable name:
{action}V2Tool - Version:
'2.0.0' - Outputs: Flat, API-aligned (no content/metadata wrapper)
Checklist Before Finishing
- All tool IDs use snake_case
- Chose exactly one boundary: registered
InternalToolConfig.operationor absolute external HTTP(S)ToolConfig.request - No tool request points to
/api/..., constructs a URL back to Sim, or declaresrequest.internal - No tool declares
directExecution; in-process work uses a registered operation - All params have explicit
required: trueorrequired: false - All params have appropriate
visibility - All nullable response fields use
?? null - All optional outputs have
optional: true - No raw JSON dumps in outputs
- Types file has all interfaces
- Index.ts exports all tools and re-exports types (
export * from './types') - Tools registered in
tools/registry.ts -
bun run tool-metadata:generaterun and the regenerated artifacts committed -
bun run scripts/generate-docs.tsrun and the refreshed docs committed — the integration's docs page is rendered from each tool's description, params, and outputs, and CI'sbun run docs:checkfails on stale pages - Block wired:
tools.access, dropdown options, subBlocks,tools.config, outputs, inputs - Model, durable-storage, and internal-execution boundaries use the shared provenance mechanisms
only where a concrete Sim
{{...}}resolution path requires them - Ordinary third-party inputs/results remain unchanged and private metadata never leaves Sim
Final Validation (Required)
Before finishing, validate each tool file against the API docs:
- Re-read each tool file you created
- Cross-reference with the API docs to verify:
- All required params are marked
required: true - All optional params are marked
required: false - Param types match the API (string, number, boolean, json)
- For external tools, request URL, method, headers, and body match the provider API spec
- For internal tools,
operation.inputmatches the handler schema and the handler is registered with no HTTP fallback transformResponseextracts the correct fields from the API response- All output fields match what the API actually returns
- No fields are missing from outputs that the API provides
- No extra fields are defined in outputs that the API doesn't return
- Every output field and JSON path is backed by docs or live-verified sample responses
- All required params are marked
- Verify consistency across tools:
- Shared types in
types.tsmatch all tools that use them - Tool IDs in the barrel export match the tool file definitions
- Error handling is consistent (error checks, meaningful messages)
- Shared types in
- If any response schema is still unknown, explicitly tell the user instead of guessing