Tool calling

How a model calls your Go functions.

Tool calling lets a model ask your program to run a function. The model writes a request, your code runs the function, and you send the result back.

See the tutorial for a complete program. This page holds the details.

The parts

pkg/message holds these types.

Type	What it is
`ToolDefinition`	The description of a tool that you give the model.
`ToolFunctionDefinition`	The name, the description, and the parameters of a function.
`ToolCall`	A request from the model to run one function.
`ToolFunction`	The name and the arguments of that request.
`Tool`	A message that holds tool calls, and the text that came with them.
`ToolResponse`	The result that you send back to the model.
`Chat`	A normal message with a role and content.

Read the tool calls

toolCalls := message.ParseToolCalls(response)

ParseToolCalls finds the format without help. It reads every format that the table below lists.

StripMarkup removes the tool call markers from the text:

fmt.Println(message.StripMarkup(response))

TextAfterToolCalls gives the text that comes after the last tool call.

Each model family writes a tool call in its own way

Format	What it looks like
`FormatStandard`	Bare JSON, such as `{"name":"...","arguments":{...}}`
`FormatQwen`	`<function=name>` with `<parameter=key>` tags
`FormatGLM`	`funcname<arg_key>key</arg_key><arg_value>value</arg_value>`
`FormatMistral`	`[TOOL_CALLS]funcname[ARGS]{...}`
`FormatGemma3`	Turn markers. There is no system role, so the system text goes in the first user turn.
`FormatGemma`	`call:funcname{key:value}`
`FormatGPT`	`.FUNC_NAME <\|message\|>JSON_ARGS`
`FormatPhi`	Standard JSON with its own turn markers
`FormatAuto`	No known format was found.

Find the format

DetectFormat reads the format from the answer. It looks at the markers in the text only. It does not look at the name of the model.

format := message.DetectFormat(response)

DetectFormatFromPath reads the format from the name of the model file:

format := message.DetectFormatFromPath("~/models/Qwen3-4B-Q4_K_M.gguf")

Use DetectFormatFromPath before the first answer, when you have no text yet.

Stop markers

A model must stop at the end of its turn. Each format has its own markers.

markers := message.StopMarkers(vocab, format)

StopMarkersFor takes the end of turn strings directly:

markers := message.StopMarkersFor(eot, format)

Stop the generation loop when the text ends with one of these markers.

Write a good tool description

The model reads the description to decide when to use the tool. A poor description gives a poor result.

Say what the function does, not how it works.
Name each parameter and say what it holds.
Put every parameter that the function needs in the required list.
Keep the name short and clear.

message.ToolFunctionDefinition{
	Name:        "get_weather",
	Description: "Get the current weather for a city",
	Parameters: map[string]interface{}{
		"type": "object",
		"properties": map[string]interface{}{
			"city": map[string]interface{}{
				"type":        "string",
				"description": "The name of the city",
			},
		},
		"required": []string{"city"},
	},
}

Arguments come back as strings

ToolFunction.Arguments is a map[string]string. Convert each value to the type that your function needs, and check the result.

a, err := strconv.ParseFloat(call.Function.Arguments["a"], 64)
if err != nil {
	// The model gave a value that is not a number.
}

A small model makes mistakes. Always check the arguments before you use them.

Put the tools in the template

template.ApplyWithTools puts the tool definitions in the prompt with the template of the model:

prompt, err := template.ApplyWithTools(tmpl, messages, tools, true)

See Chat templates.

In a browser

Tool calling works in a browser. pkg/message has a version of StopMarkers for WebAssembly. See the tools.html page in the wasm directory of the repository.