Toolofficial publisher

Tools Vercel AI SDK

Tool : A precise action the AI can call · requires vercel

Typed tool definitions for agents in TypeScript.

The cleanest way to define a tool in TypeScript.

Docs

Overall score

7.7 /10

Security: nothing to flag

Utility

7.0

Reliability

6.0

Security

No caveat on record

Ease

5 min · Technical

Security reflects where data goes, requested permissions and incidents on record at the verification date. It is not a guarantee of zero risk: check the deployment mode and the connections you enable.

What it does, concretely

Defining tools for an AI agent in TypeScript without strict typing leads to silent errors: the model receives a malformed schema, execution crashes, and debugging is painful. The Vercel AI SDK solves this by providing a tool() helper function that binds the input schema, description, and execution logic into a single typed object.

In practice, each tool is declared with a textual description (fixed or dynamic based on context), a Zod or JSON Schema to validate parameters, and an async execute function that receives already-typed arguments. The SDK automatically validates model calls against the schema before invoking execute, preventing malformed input data.

This tool targets TypeScript developers building agents or AI pipelines with Vercel AI SDK's generateText or streamText. It requires familiarity with TypeScript and Zod, and integrates into Node.js, Next.js, Svelte, Vue, or Expo projects.

It is not suited for those looking for a visual, no-code interface to create tools, nor for Python projects (a Python SDK is in beta but separate). Developers who want to execute tools client-side or in a queue can omit execute and handle calls themselves.

What it offers

·Typed tool declaration via the tool() function with automatic TypeScript type inference from the Zod schema.
·Automatic validation of model calls against the input schema before the execute function is invoked.
·Dynamic descriptions: the description sent to the model can be a function depending on the current context (project, environment, sandbox).
·Strict mode (strict: true) to force the model to only generate schema-compliant calls, on providers that support it.
·Input examples (inputExamples) to guide the model on the expected parameter structure (natively supported by Anthropic).
·Tool call approval system (toolApproval) allowing human validation to be required before executing sensitive actions.
·Ability to omit execute to forward tool calls to the client or a queue without executing them in the same process.

Our tips

Use a function for the description instead of a fixed string when the context changes between steps (tenant, project, sandbox): the SDK resolves the function before each model call.
Enable strict: true on tools with simple, well-defined schemas to reduce malformed calls, but first verify your provider supports it, as the option is silently ignored otherwise.
Add inputExamples for tools whose JSON schema does not fully express the intended usage, especially when some fields are optional; note that only Anthropic natively uses them.
For sensitive actions (file deletion, payments), configure toolApproval with 'user-approval' rather than handling the logic inside execute: the SDK emits tool-approval-request parts that your interface can intercept before the second model call.
If you want to execute a tool client-side or in a queue, simply omit the execute property: the SDK will forward the call without attempting server-side execution.

Watch out

Strict mode and input examples are not universally supported: depending on the provider or model used, these options are silently ignored without explicit warning.
The manual approval flow requires two successive model calls: generateText or streamText does not pause execution, it returns approval requests in the content, which adds complexity to application state management.

In practice

Price: Free
Commercial use: Commercial use: yes
Available on: sdk-ts
Host: vercel
Licence: Apache-2.0
FR interface: No

Security and data

Rating: Security: nothing to flag
Capabilities: readswritesexecutesnetwork
Your data: Data stays local
Maintenance: Active

Links and repository checked on 25 October 2026 · added on 1 May 2024

How to install Tools Vercel AI SDK

1. Install the SDK in your TypeScript project: npm install ai zod 2. Import tool and generateText from the ai package. 3. Declare your tools with tool({ description, inputSchema, execute }) using a Zod schema for inputSchema. 4. Pass your tools in the tools parameter of generateText or streamText. 5. Make sure the execute function only contains logic you are comfortable exposing server-side: it runs in your environment, not in an isolated sandbox by default.

npm install ai zod

Official documentation ↗

In the same category

Whole category Orchestrate →