Using tools

Use tools like remote MCP servers or web search to extend the model's capabilities.

When generating model responses, you can extend capabilities using built‑in tools and remote MCP servers. These enable the model to search the web, retrieve from your files, call your own functions, or access third‑party services.

Web search

Include web search results for the model response

File search

Search your files in a response

Function calling

Call your own function

Remote MCP

Call a remote MCP server

Available tools

Here's an overview of the tools available in the OpenAI platform—select one of them for further guidance on usage.

[

Function calling

Call custom code to give the model access to additional data and capabilities.

](/docs/guides/function-calling)[

Web search

Include data from the Internet in model response generation.

](/docs/guides/tools-web-search)[

Remote MCP servers

Give the model access to new capabilities via Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

](/docs/guides/tools-remote-mcp)[

File search

Search the contents of uploaded files for context when generating a response.

](/docs/guides/tools-file-search)[

Image generation

Generate or edit images using GPT Image.

](/docs/guides/tools-image-generation)[

Code interpreter

Allow the model to execute code in a secure container.

](/docs/guides/tools-code-interpreter)[

Computer use

Create agentic workflows that enable a model to control a computer interface.

](/docs/guides/tools-computer-use)

Usage in the API

When making a request to generate a model response, you can enable tool access by specifying configurations in the tools parameter. Each tool has its own unique configuration requirements—see the Available tools section for detailed instructions.

Based on the provided prompt, the model automatically decides whether to use a configured tool. For instance, if your prompt requests information beyond the model's training cutoff date and web search is enabled, the model will typically invoke the web search tool to retrieve relevant, up-to-date information.

You can explicitly control or guide this behavior by setting the tool_choice parameter in the API request.

Function calling

In addition to built-in tools, you can define custom functions using the tools array. These custom functions allow the model to call your application's code, enabling access to specific data or capabilities not directly available within the model.

Learn more in the function calling guide.

Using tools OpenAI官方文档

Using tools#

Available tools#

Usage in the API#

Function calling#

Using tools

Available tools

Usage in the API

Function calling