Seven Basic Tools
Minimal coding agent toolkit:
- Code Interpreter – Python sandbox;
- Bash Shell;
- file reading;
- file writing;
- file editing (local changes);
- glob – search by name;
- grep – search by content.
These seven tools cover almost any coding task; their combinations solve a very diverse range of problems.
A generalist agent oriented towards open-ended tasks is, at its core, a coding agent with a filesystem (from Manus to OpenClaw): PPT is OOXML, reports are generated by code, successful GUI sequences are fixed as RPA code.
Related: File system as agent center, Code as a meta-ability, Specialized tool vs Skill