Manage Tools in Tyk AI Studio

​

Availability

Tyk AI Studio’s Tool System allows Large Language Models (LLMs) to interact with external APIs and services, dramatically extending their capabilities beyond simple text generation. This enables LLMs to perform actions, retrieve real-time data, and integrate with other systems. To manage Tools, go to Context management > Tools in the AI Studio admin UI sidebar.

​

Purpose

Tools bridge the gap between conversational AI and external functionalities. By defining tools, you allow LLMs interacting via the Chat Interface or API to:

• Access real-time information (e.g., weather, stock prices, database records).
• Interact with other software (e.g., search JIRA tickets, update CRM records, trigger webhooks).
• Perform complex calculations or data manipulations using specialized services.

​

Core Concepts

• Tool Definition: A Tool in Tyk AI Studio is essentially a wrapper around an external API. Its structure and available operations are defined using an OpenAPI Specification (OAS) (v3.x, JSON or YAML).
• Allowed Operations: From the provided OAS, administrators select the specific operationIds that the LLM is permitted to invoke. This provides granular control over which parts of an API are exposed.
• Authentication: Tools often require authentication to access the target API. Tyk AI Studio handles this securely by integrating with Secrets Management. You configure the authentication method (e.g., Bearer Token, Basic Auth) defined in the OAS. Reference a stored Secret that contains the actual credentials.
• Privacy Levels: Each Tool is assigned a privacy level. This level is compared against the privacy level of the LLM Configuration being used. A Tool can only be used if its privacy level is less than or equal to the LLM’s level. This prevents sensitive tools from use with less secure or external LLMs. Privacy levels define how data is protected by controlling LLM access based on its sensitivity. See Privacy Levels for the full score mapping and how the comparison works.
• Tool Catalogues: Tools are grouped into logical collections called Catalogues. This simplifies management and access control.
• Filters: Optional Filters can pre-process requests sent to the tool. They can also post-process responses received from it, for example for data sanitization.
• Documentation: Administrators can provide additional natural language documentation or instructions for the LLM. This guides the LLM on how and when to use the tool effectively.
• Dependencies: Tools can declare dependencies on other tools, although the exact usage pattern may vary.

​

Availability

Tools are available on both AI Studio (embedded gateway) and Edge Gateway (edge gateways). Tool configurations, OpenAPI specs, auth credentials, and app access associations are synced to edge gateways via the hub-spoke configuration system. Tools support namespace filtering for enterprise multi-tenant deployments. Tools are accessible in three ways:

1. Chat Interface — LLMs invoke tools automatically during conversations (the primary use case).
2. REST API — Each tool is also available as a direct REST API endpoint for developers. They can call it programmatically, independent of LLM interactions.
3. MCP Interface — An MCP-compliant shim wraps the OpenAPI-generated tools, providing an MCP-API compatible interface. This works with tools that require authentication and provides MCP compatibility without a separate MCP proxy server.

​

How it Works

When a user interacts with an LLM via the Chat Interface:

1. The LLM receives the user prompt and the definitions of available tools (based on team permissions and Chat Experience configuration).
2. The LLM determines whether it needs one or more tools to answer the prompt. If so, it generates a request to invoke the specific tool operation(s) with the required parameters.
3. Tyk AI Studio intercepts this request.
4. It validates the request, checks permissions, and retrieves necessary secrets for authentication.
5. Tyk AI Studio applies any configured request Filters.
6. It calls the external API defined by the Tool.
7. It receives the response from the external API.
8. Tyk AI Studio applies any configured response Filters.
9. It sends the tool’s response back to the LLM.
10. The LLM uses the tool’s response to formulate its final answer to the user.

​

Creating & Managing Tools (Admin)

Administrators define and manage Tools via the UI or API:

1. Define Tool: Provide a name, description, and privacy level.
2. Upload OpenAPI Spec: Provide the OAS document (JSON/YAML).
3. Select Operations: Choose the specific operationIds the LLM can use.
4. Configure Authentication: Select the OAS security scheme and link to a stored Secret for credentials.
5. Add Documentation: Provide natural language instructions for the LLM.
6. Assign Filters (Optional): Add request/response filters.

​

Importing Tools from a Tyk Dashboard (Admin)

The Import OpenAPI wizard on the Tools page creates a Tool automatically from an OpenAPI specification. It supports two import methods:

• Tyk Dashboard: Pulls the specification for an active API directly from a Tyk Dashboard instance.
• Direct Import: Imports a specification from a URL, an uploaded file, or pasted text.

This section describes the Tyk Dashboard method.

​

Start the Wizard

1. Go to Admin > Tools.
2. Click Import OpenAPI.
3. Select Tyk Dashboard.
4. Click Next.

​

Connect to the Dashboard

Enter these values:

• URL: The base URL of your Tyk Dashboard (e.g., http://localhost:3000). Do not include a trailing slash.
• Access Token or Secret Reference: Your Tyk Dashboard API access token, or a secret reference such as $SECRET/DashboardKey.

You must fill in both fields. Click Next. Tyk AI Studio checks the URL and token against the Dashboard API. If the check fails, the wizard shows an error. Fix the values and try again.

​

Select an API

Tyk AI Studio lists only active Tyk OAS APIs from your Dashboard. It does not list Tyk Classic API definitions or inactive APIs. Select one API from the list, then click Next. To import more APIs, repeat the wizard.

​

Configure the Tool

The wizard pre-fills the following fields from the selected API. Review and edit them before you save:

• Name: The API’s name in Tyk Dashboard.
• Description: A generated summary of the API. It includes the API ID, authentication type, protocol, listen path, and available operations.
• Privacy Level: Defaults to 50 (Confidential). Change it to match the sensitivity of the data the API returns. See Privacy Levels for more details.
• Auth Schema Name: The name of the security scheme detected in the specification.
• Auth Key: The credential the tool uses to call the imported API. Tyk AI Studio does not fetch this value for you. Enter it yourself, as a direct value or as a secret reference such as $SECRET/JiraAuthToken. Leave this field blank if the API needs no authentication.

The wizard also lists every operation it found in the specification, and adds all of them to the new tool automatically. To limit which operations the LLM can use, edit the tool after import and remove the ones you do not need. Click Create Tool. Tyk AI Studio creates the tool and opens its details page. The imported tool works like any other tool. Add it to a Tool Catalogue and assign that catalogue to a team to make it available in chat.

​

Organizing & Assigning Tools (Admin)

• Create Catalogues: Group related tools into Tool Catalogues (e.g., “CRM Tools”, “Search Tools”).
• Assign to Teams: Assign Tool Catalogues to specific teams. This grants users in those groups potential access to the tools within the catalogue.

​

Using Tools (User)

Tools become available to end-users within the Chat Interface if:

1. The specific Chat Experience configuration includes the relevant Tool Catalogue.
2. The user belongs to a Team that has been assigned that Tool Catalogue.
3. The Tool’s privacy level is compatible with the LLM being used in the Chat Experience.

The LLM will then automatically decide when to use these available tools based on the conversation.