369075dc95
Adds Tool Search, a structured-tools progressive-disclosure layer that
replaces MCP and non-core plugin tools in the model-visible tools array
with three bridge tools (tool_search / tool_describe / tool_call) when
the deferrable surface would consume more than a configurable percentage
of the active model's context window. Core Hermes tools are never deferred.
Default mode is 'auto' with a 10% context threshold, so small toolsets
pay no overhead. Set tools.tool_search.enabled to 'on' to force or 'off'
to disable.
Design carefully reflects the OpenClaw production failure modes
documented in the openclaw-tool-search-report:
- Core tools never defer (toolsets._HERMES_CORE_TOOLS). Addresses the
'tools silently missing from isolated cron turns' regression class
(openclaw#84141) by construction: there is no code path that can
drop a core tool.
- Catalog is stateless across turns — rebuilt from the live tool-defs
list on every assembly. No session-keyed Map that can drift out of
sync with the registry.
- tool_call unwraps the bridge call before any hook fires, so plugin
pre/post hooks, guardrails, approval flows, and the activity feed
all see the underlying tool name, not the bridge (addresses
openclaw#85588 and the verbose-mode complaint on openclaw#79823).
- The unwrap happens in both the parallel and sequential paths of
agent/tool_executor.py and also in handle_function_call, so direct
callers (sandboxed code, eval harnesses) are covered too.
- Bridge tools cannot invoke each other (recursion guard) and cannot
invoke core tools (those must be called directly).
- Tools mode only — no JS-sandbox code-mode. Keeps the surface small.
- Token estimation via cheap char/4 heuristic; precision isn't needed
for the threshold decision.
Files:
- tools/tool_search.py — new module (BM25 retrieval, classification,
threshold gate, bridge dispatch, unwrap helper).
- tests/tools/test_tool_search.py — 35 tests including the OpenClaw
#84141 regression guard.
- model_tools.py — wires assembly into _compute_tool_definitions as the
final step, adds skip_tool_search_assembly kwarg so the bridge can
see the real catalog, dispatches the three bridge tools.
- agent/tool_executor.py — unwraps tool_call in both parallel and
sequential parsing loops so checkpointing, guardrails, plugin hooks,
and tool-progress callbacks all observe the underlying tool name.
- hermes_cli/config.py — DEFAULT_CONFIG['tools']['tool_search'] block.
- website/docs/user-guide/features/tool-search.md — user docs.
Validation:
- 35/35 new tests pass.
- Existing tool/registry/model_tools/config/coercion/executor tests
(82 + 74 + small adjacents) green.
- Live E2E: 20 fake MCP tools registered, get_tool_definitions returns
3 bridges, tool_search returns top 3 hits, tool_describe returns
full schema, tool_call dispatches to the real underlying handler
and the underlying result is what the model sees.
- Reserved-name recursion guard verified live.
- Core-tool refusal via tool_call verified live.
Website
This website is built using Docusaurus, a modern static website generator.
Installation
yarn
Local Development
yarn start
This command starts a local development server and opens up a browser window. Most changes are reflected live without having to restart the server.
Build
yarn build
This command generates static content into the build directory and can be served using any static contents hosting service.
Deployment
Using SSH:
USE_SSH=true yarn deploy
Not using SSH:
GIT_USER=<Your GitHub username> yarn deploy
If you are using GitHub pages for hosting, this command is a convenient way to build the website and push to the gh-pages branch.
Diagram Linting
CI runs ascii-guard to lint docs for ASCII box diagrams. Use Mermaid (````mermaid`) or plain lists/tables instead of ASCII boxes to avoid CI failures.