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Tools

Vanta ships 139 built-in tools (142 registered, including the factory-built mount_mcp, tool_search, and mcp_auth). Every tool call is gated by the kernel before it runs. The model sees a per-turn scoped subset of the catalog; tool_search is always reachable to pull in the rest on demand.

By category​

Files & dev​

read_file · write_file · edit_file · grep_files · glob_files · shell_cmd · run_code (sandboxed python/node/rust) · LSP diagnostics + go-to-definition (TS/TSX) · 6 git tools (status/diff read-only; commit/push/branch/checkout approval-gated) · regression_lock (record a re-runnable proof of a fix).

write_file writes freely in-repo and only into a configured writable zone out-of-repo; it runs the size gate on every TS write and reports violations so the agent self-corrects.

Web & search​

web_search (automatic managed-provider routing with Brave-browser/Bing keyless fallback) · web_fetch (readable-content extraction) · rss_read · reddit_read · cookie_import (kernel-gated credential store, never echoed). DuckDuckGo adapters are explicit legacy options because they frequently bot-block agents.

Browser, vision & voice​

screenshot · browser_navigate · browser_extract · browser_act (navigate/click/type/press/scroll with an approval-gated, masked dry-run preview for irreversible controls) · describe_image · compare_vision · look_at_screen · look_at_camera · watch_video · transcribe (audio → text) · speak (text → speech). look_at_screen gives the agent an explicit kernel-gated view of the current display; /look and the Desktop capture control add operator-selected area/window/display images to the next turn. Vision and voice route through a dedicated model when configured (VANTA_VISION_MODEL), so a text-only main model still has eyes and ears. See Sight & screen context.

Output compression​

Large tool outputs are optionally compressed before they hit the context window (JSON crush, log squash) and stashed so the agent can retrieve the full text later (retrieve_original). Enable per the compress/* settings; only allowlisted tools compress.

Comms (Google)​

gmail_search / gmail_read (read) + gmail_draft / gmail_send (always approval-gated) · calendar_read + create/update · drive_read + create/update. One-time OAuth via vanta auth google.

Autonomous & multi-agent​

delegate (scoped subagent) · cron scheduler · background team workers · A2A message bus.

Operator systems​

world · money · radar · team · life_search · self_repair · reach tools — see Operator systems.

Memory & learning​

brain (remember/recall) · recall · write_skill · roadmap_add / roadmap_move · clarify · inspect_state.

How a tool is gated​

Each tool exposes a describeForSafety(args) that returns only the safety-relevant string (path or command). The kernel classifies it; the loop executes only on allow. See the agent loop.

Adding your own​

See Extending Vanta — a tool is a small file exporting a schema, describeForSafety, and execute, registered in tools/all-tools.ts.