The Think tool allows you to log thoughts and reasoning processes without obtaining new information or changing any data, providing a transparent audit trail of decision-making.

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What It Is

The Think tool is a simple utility that documents reasoning or decision-making processes without changing state or having side effects. It’s particularly useful when you want to explicitly record the rationale behind decisions.

Benefits of the Think Tool

  • Document reasoning steps without side effects
  • Create transparent audit trails of decision processes
  • Track thought progression during complex problem-solving
  • Improve explainability of AI-assisted decisions

Think Tool Overview

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Configuration

The Think tool requires a single parameter: 
{
  "thought": "Your thought goes here"
}

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Response Format

The Think tool returns a simple acknowledgment of the recorded thought: 
{
  "thought": "I need to first consider the user's budget constraints before recommending high-end solutions"
}

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When to Use It

Good Use Cases

  • Documenting reasoning steps
  • Creating audit trails of decision processes
  • Explaining why certain options were ruled out
  • Recording assumptions made during analysis

Not Recommended For

  • Retrieving new information
  • Performing actions with side effects
  • Replacing proper documentation
  • Critical decision-making without human oversight

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Example Applications

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Decision Documentation

The Think tool is ideal for creating a clear record of decision rationale: 
{
  "thought": "The user's request for a database solution requires evaluating their scale needs. Their expected 10M daily transactions suggests PostgreSQL would be more suitable than SQLite."
}

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Analysis Progression

Document the progression of your analysis: 
{
  "thought": "After reviewing the error logs, I notice that failures primarily occur during peak traffic hours, suggesting a resource contention issue rather than a code bug."
}

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Assumption Recording

Explicitly record assumptions being made: 
{
  "thought": "I'm assuming the user is operating in a cloud environment with auto-scaling capabilities based on their mention of AWS in previous messages."
}

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Best Practices

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Integration Examples

curl --location 'http://localhost:6644/v1/responses' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY' \
--data '{
    "model": "openai@gpt-4o",
    "tools": [
      {
        "type": "think"
      },
      {
        "type": "agentic_search",
        "vector_store_ids": ["vs_tech_docs"]
      }
    ],
    "input": "What are the best practices for microservice communication patterns?",
    "instructions": "First document your search strategy using the think tool, then perform the search, and finally document your insights from the search results."
}'

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Recording Decision-Making Process

curl --location 'http://localhost:6644/v1/responses' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY' \
--data '{
    "model": "openai@gpt-4o",
    "tools": [
      {
        "type": "think"
      },
      {
        "type": "file_search",
        "vector_store_ids": ["vs_product_docs"]
      }
    ],
    "input": "Compare the performance characteristics of our SQL and NoSQL database options for the user authentication service.",
    "instructions": "Document your analysis process using the think tool at each step of your evaluation."
}'

File Search Tool

For direct vector store searches to retrieve information

Agentic Search Tool

For AI-guided iterative searches for complex questions