advanced-tool-uselisted
Install: claude install-skill Hoja-Solutions/agent-stdlib
# Advanced tool use
Source: [Advanced tool use on the Claude Developer Platform](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/advanced-tool-use). Community packs cover writing one good tool; none package the patterns for reaching many tools through a few. This pack ships the runnable side under `mcp-servers/tool-gateway/` (search and call) and `mcp-servers/code-execution/` (tools as code); this skill is the judgment for when to reach for each.
## Tool definitions are context
Loading every tool's schema up front spends tokens before the agent does any work, and a long menu makes the model choose worse. Past a couple dozen tools, the definitions crowd out the task. The three patterns below each cut a different part of that cost.
## Discover tools on demand
Register one search tool in place of the full catalog. The agent describes what it needs, the search tool returns the few matching definitions, and only those enter the context. This pack's `tool-gateway` server does this with `search_tools` and `call_tool` over a larger catalog. Reach for it when the catalog is large or shifts between sessions.
## Call tools from code
Let the model write code that invokes tools, chains several calls, and applies control flow in one block, in place of one round-trip per call. The code runs in a sandbox and returns only what the model keeps. Two wins follow: a result with ten thousand rows gets filtered to the five the model needs before any of it crosses into the context, and a five-step sequ