Custom tools allow you to connect your CloseBot agents to external systems. If there is an API, CloseBot Agent Node can use it via custom tools.

After clicking to create a custom tool, you will be entered into the 4 step tool creation wizard. Step 1 is where you name your tool, describe it, and give it an icon. This is important in helping your AI know when and how to use the tool you're creating for it.

Your tool name will be visible to you when the tool is used, but is also referenced by the Agent Nodes in its decision to use the tool. Make sure the tool name is helpful to you and to your Agent Nodes.

The description should briefly describe when the tool should be used and what the output from the tool will be. Think short, yet descriptive.

The icon is helpful for you in quickly viewing the tools your AI decides to use. Icons display in a few places within the conversation logs and job flow canvas.

This section of the custom tool setup allows you to build the actual API connection of the tool. You'll find standard API fields here like the URL, method, headers, body and query parameters as well as Custom Parameters (described below).

These inputs will be provided by your API documentation from the third party you are trying to connect to. For assistance in understanding third party APIs, contact that software's support team.

Custom parameters are things that you need the AI to collect to be able to utilize this tool that you don't already have fields created for.

For example, we have created a tool our own Agent can use if it has tips for us on how we can improve it. We require it to pass allong a tip and the severity. These are not things that we have variables for already, and they are only relevant while the agent uses this tool.

It's mandatory for all created custom parameters to be utilized within this step. See the example below where we used tip and severity within the BODY sent to our Zapier endpoint.

This step allows you to test the API call set up in Step 2. Alternatively, you can skip this by pasting in JSON for an example response.

There are fields for each of the custom parameters created in Step 2. You can input values you want to test the tool with here. Once you do, clicking Send Request will call the API with your parameters, saving the response.

Step 3 will show you the items returned in the API response. Some of these will likely be helpful for the Agent Node to see, but some may be private things that you don't want the Agent Node to be able to see. Examples may be contact IDs or other Internal IDs.

This step allows you to choose which of the returned values in the response are visible to the AI, and which are hidden.

Once your tool is created, allow your Agents to use it by enabling it as a global tool or adding it to a specific agent node for use. Learn more about that HERE.