Tool use with Claude

Tool use lets Claude call functions that you define or that Anthropic provides. Claude determines when to call a tool based on the user's request and the tool's description. It then returns a structured call that your application executes (client tools) or that Anthropic executes (server tools).

Here's a minimal example using a server tool, the Web search tool, which Anthropic executes for you:

client = anthropic.Anthropic()
response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=1024,
    tools=[{"type": "web_search_20260209", "name": "web_search"}],
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "What's the latest on the Mars rover?"}],
)
print(response.content)

Claude runs the search on Anthropic's infrastructure and returns the cited results in the same response. To have Claude call a function that you define, pass a tool with an input_schema, then execute the call when Claude returns a tool_use block. Define tools and Handle tool calls cover that round trip.

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How tool use works

Tools differ primarily by where the code executes. Client tools (including user-defined tools and tools with Anthropic-defined schemas, such as bash and text_editor) run in your application. Claude responds with stop_reason: "tool_use" and one or more tool_use blocks. Your code executes the operation and sends back a tool_result. Server tools (such as web_search, web_fetch, code_execution, and tool_search) run on Anthropic's infrastructure: you see the results directly without handling execution, unless Claude calls the tool in the same group of parallel tool calls as one of your client tools (see Stop reasons and fallback).

For the full conceptual model including the agentic loop and when to choose each approach, see How tool use works.

For connecting to Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, see the MCP connector. For building your own MCP client, see the Model Context Protocol guide to building an MCP client.

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When Claude uses tools

With the default tool_choice of {"type": "auto"}, Claude determines on each turn whether to call a tool or respond directly. It calls a tool when the request maps to that tool's described capability and the answer isn't already in context. It responds directly for stable knowledge, creative tasks, and conversational turns.

This boundary is steerable through your system prompt. If Claude isn't calling tools when you expect, a light instruction such as "Use the tools to investigate before responding." increases tool use. A stronger form such as "Always call a tool first before responding." pushes further. Conversely, "Use your judgment about whether to call a tool or respond directly." keeps triggering behavior conservative.

To require a tool call rather than rely on prompting, set tool_choice.

Each server tool's page describes its own trigger boundary in more detail.

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Choose a tool

For type strings, versions, and beta headers, see Tool reference.

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Your own tools

For tools you define, you write the schema and your application executes each call.

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Anthropic-schema client tools

Anthropic publishes the schema and trains Claude on it. Your application still executes each call and returns the tool_result.

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Server tools

Server tools run on Anthropic's infrastructure, with no handler code in your application. See Server tools for the mechanics they share.

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Pricing

Tool use requests are priced based on:

1. The total number of input tokens sent to the model (including in the tools parameter)
2. The number of output tokens generated
3. For server-side tools, additional usage-based pricing (e.g., web search charges per search performed)

Client-side tools are priced the same as any other Claude API request, while server-side tools may incur additional charges based on their specific usage.

The additional tokens from tool use come from:

• The tools parameter in API requests (tool names, descriptions, and schemas)
• tool_use content blocks in API requests and responses
• tool_result content blocks in API requests

When you use tools, the API also automatically includes a special system prompt for the model which enables tool use. The number of tool use tokens required for each model are listed below (excluding the additional tokens listed above). Note that the table assumes at least 1 tool is provided. If no tools are provided, then a tool choice of none uses 0 additional system prompt tokens.

These token counts are added to your normal input and output tokens to calculate the total cost of a request.

See the Models overview table for current per-model prices.

When you send a tool use prompt, like any other API request, the response includes both input and output token counts in the reported usage metrics.

Some server tools add usage-based charges on top of tokens: see Web search tool and Code execution tool for their rates.

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Next steps