Pattern 01
Inline Tools
Tools defined ad-hoc per agent. No registry, no shared infrastructure. Fast to build, impossible to scale.
Pattern 02
Tool Registry
Centralized registry. Tools discovered at runtime. Metadata, versioning, and tag-based filtering baked in.
Pattern 03
Tool Chains
Tools composed in sequences. Output of one feeds the next. Powerful for structured pipelines, fragile on unexpected data.
Pattern 04
MCP Server
Tools exposed as a standardized server. Any MCP-compatible agent can connect. The industry standard for 2025+.