# Tools

A tool is a saved prompt for a job you do repeatedly: writing a product description,
drafting a press release, turning notes into an announcement. Instead of retyping the
instructions, you fill in the parts that change.

Build tools under **Administration → Manage Tools**, and run one by typing **/** in any
chat.

## Run a tool

Type **/** in the chat box to open the tool palette: everything available to you,
searchable, with your favorites and recents at the top. Pick a tool, fill in the fields
it asks for, and run it.

Star the ones you use often with **Add to favorites** and they stay at the top.

Some tools open their result in the [canvas](/guide/ai/chat) rather than in the
conversation, because the result is something you will edit.

## Build a tool

Choose **Create tool** and complete the fields:

| | |
|---|---|
| **Name** | What people look for in the palette. |
| **Short Description** | One line, shown in the tool list. |
| **Description** | A fuller explanation shown when the tool is opened: what it does and when to use it. |
| **Tool** | The prompt itself: the instructions, with wildcards for the parts that change. |

Write the short description for someone scanning fifty tools, because that is what
people do.

## Wildcards

A wildcard is a placeholder in the prompt that gets filled at run time. Wildcards are
what turn a prompt into a reusable tool.

Instead of a prompt that says *"write a product description for the AeroDesk 2"*, write
one with a wildcard for the product, and the tool asks for it when it runs. Some
wildcards are free text; others offer a list to choose from, or pull from a knowledge
base so the choices are your actual products.

Administrators manage shared wildcards under **Administration → Wildcards**.

## Image tools

A tool that generates an image can fix its aspect ratio. The picker names the
destination rather than the number: Instagram post, Stories and Reels, YouTube and
LinkedIn, print. See [AI images](/guide/studio/ai-images).

## Pre-built tools

Some tools ship with the platform and cannot be edited. Copy one and modify the copy if
you need a variant.

## Tools and agent capabilities

These are two different things, and both are loosely called "tools":

- A **tool** is a saved prompt that a *person* runs.
- A **capability** is something an *agent* does on its own mid-answer, such as searching
  photos, generating an image or reading a URL. Capabilities are configured on the agent; see
  [agents](/guide/ai/agents).

An agent can also be given a set of **Agent Tools**, which are these saved prompts made
available to it.

## When to build a tool

The test is repetition plus a consistent shape. If three people write the same kind of
content from the same kind of input and get different results, build a tool. If it is
written once, it belongs in a chat message.