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Adding abilities

Give your agent the information and tools it needs to take action and provide insights. Abilities are how you equip your AI agents with the skills and context they need to operate effectively. Each agent can be customized with a set of abilities that define what it knows, what it can do, and how it can interact with other systems.​

There are multiple types of abilities you can add to an agent:

Knowledge Base​

Give your agent the ability to understand and reference specific information by uploading content directly into its memory. This background information will always be available to and referenced by the agent, allowing it to provide accurate and relevant responses.

  • File Uploads - Add PDFs, Word documents, or other files that contain relevant information your agent can use as background information.
  • Text Context - Directly input custom text that the agent can use to answer questions, generate content, or support reasoning.

Connectors​

Connectors are a powerful feature that allow your agent to connect to external systems and services. This enables your agent to retrieve data, trigger actions, or collaborate across platforms. There are many different types of connectors available:

API​

Connect to any REST or GraphQL API, including your own internal APIs. This allows your agent to retrieve data, trigger actions, or perform other tasks by utilizing the API.

Communication​

Set up email, Slack, and other messaging channels the agent should use to send answers or responses. Allow the agent to ingest chat histories for greater contextual awareness.

Databases​

Use Squid's built-in database or connect to external SQL and NoSQL databases. Providing your agent with access to a database allows the agent to convert Text 2 SQL and answer natural language questions on your data.

SaaS​

File tickets, manage customer interactions, provide access to internal systems and more using SaaS connectors. These integrations allow your agent to act as a bridge between users and your most important business tools, automating routine workflows with ease.

The Connector Ability​

Once you have setup a connector you can then add its ability to your agent. When adding a connector to your agent, you will need to specify:

  • When to Use – a description of when the agent should use the connector (e.g. call this connector when the user asks a question about order history).
  • Instructions – any specific parameters, formatting, or guidance the agent should follow when invoking the connector (e.g. send all emails in plain text format with the subject line "From your AI agent").

Read more about Squid connectors and how to set them up in our documentation.

AI Functions​

Define custom logic or behavior that your agent can execute using modular code functions, or utilize a few built-in AI functions that Squid provides.

AI Functions are written in code and can be used to extend the functionality of your agent. When creating an AI function, you provide a description of when the agent should invoke the function. To learn more about AI functions using Squid's SDKs, check out our documentation.

Other AI Agents​

You can also connect your agent to another AI agent you have created to setup a multi-agent workflow. This allows you to create a hierarchy of agents, where one agent can delegate tasks or queries to another agent. This is useful for creating specialized agents that can handle specific tasks or domains.

When connecting an agent to another agent, you will need to specify:

  • Description – a description of when the agent should use the other agent (e.g. call this agent when the user asks a question about customer service policies).

Next Steps​

Try enhancing your agent in the Agent Studio by adding one or more abilities. Once you have added abilities, you can test your agent in the Test Agent tab to see how it performs with the new capabilities.

Need help setting up an agent or ability? Please contact us for hands on support.