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Tools & Actions

Tools & Actions

Tools let your voice agent do real work during a call.

Examples:

  • lookup a customer record
  • schedule an appointment
  • create a support ticket
  • end a call when appropriate

What is a tool?

A tool is a Python function that the agent can call when the model decides it is needed.

In SIPHON:

  • tools are registered on the worker via Agent(tools=[...])
  • tools can be simple functions or mixin classes
  • tool execution happens during the conversation, usually between user turns

When tools run

At a high level, tools are invoked when:

  1. the user asks for something actionable
  2. the model decides a tool is the best next step
  3. the tool runs and returns data
  4. the agent uses the result to respond naturally

Tool safety and design

Good tool behavior:

  • validate inputs (phone numbers, IDs, dates)
  • return small, structured results
  • handle failures (network errors, not found cases)
  • avoid long-running side effects without confirmation

Built-in “call control” concepts

Many applications want call control behaviors:

  • hang up
  • save metadata
  • capture recordings/transcriptions

In SIPHON, those are implemented as part of the worker call lifecycle.

Where to learn the practical API

This page is conceptual. For implementation details and examples:

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