Attach a plugin to a ToolSmith chat to change it or to ask how it works. This works for any plugin, including one built by hand or by someone else. ToolSmith changes nothing until you approve a plan. To find out why a plugin fails, see Debug a Plugin.

Attach the plugin to a chat

You can attach plugins only. To change an action, attach a plugin that uses it and name the action in your request.

From the Plugins list

1. In Tool Studio, open the Plugins list.
2. On the plugin’s row, select the more actions menu (⋮), then select Modify with ToolSmith.

A new ToolSmith chat opens with the plugin attached.

From any ToolSmith chat

1. In the message box, select +.
2. In the Search plugins… box, type part of the plugin’s name, and select the plugin.

The plugin appears under the message box.

Describe the change

Say what should be different, the rules it should follow, and what must stay the same. The examples on this page come from a plugin that lists an employee’s open ServiceNow incidents:

Only show priority 1 and 2 incidents, and add when each one was opened.

A change to a Linear plugin can be as short as this:

Can you change this to do top 10 and order by due date?

No setting limits which assets ToolSmith changes, so your request and the plan you approve set the scope. To target a specific asset, such as an action, name it. ToolSmith tells you if a different asset needs the change.

ToolSmith cannot delete assets. Delete assets you no longer need in Tool Studio.

Review the plan

By design, ToolSmith keeps a change narrow. It changes the existing assets your request needs instead of rebuilding the plugin. In the example, the plan updated the incident action and the conversational process and left the plugin configuration alone.

Run the usual plan checks, and for a change, also check:

• Which assets change. Make sure the plan leaves alone anything you said must stay the same. If a step does not name its asset, read the planning notes above the plan card. See Reused and new assets.
• Who else uses a changed asset. Every plugin that uses the asset gets the change, so test those plugins too. In Tool Studio, the asset’s more actions menu (⋮) has Related assets, which lists them under Parent Assets.
• External actions. Approving the plan also approves its external actions, such as running the changed action against the connected system. See External actions.

To fix the plan, select Modify plan and describe what is wrong. See Change the plan.

Approve the plan and check the result

Select Approve plan, or Approve when the plan has no external actions. ToolSmith makes the change and ends with a summary card, such as “Modified 2 assets” in the example.

Then check the result:

1. In the Artifacts panel, select Assets, and compare the changed assets with the plan.
2. Test the plugin in your assistant, including requests the change should not affect. In the example, a request for open incidents should return only priority 1 and 2 incidents, each with the time it was opened.

If the result is still wrong, tell ToolSmith what to fix and review the new plan, or undo the change.

Undo a change

Each asset ToolSmith changes gets a new version. To undo a change, revert the asset to an earlier version:

1. Open the asset’s Version history. For a plugin or an action, it is in the more actions menu (⋮) on its row in Tool Studio and in the header of its page. The live version is marked PUBLISHED.
2. Select Revert on the version you want to restore, and confirm.

Reverting creates a new published version and keeps the history. Revert each changed asset you want to restore. Some parts of a plugin, such as its utterances, cannot be reverted. See Revert to a previous version.

Ask about a plugin

Before you change a plugin, especially one someone else built, attach it to a chat and ask how it works:

How does this plugin work? Walk me through each step, from the user's request to the answer.

Use the answer to check what the plugin actually does and to find the asset to name in a change request. In one build, this question showed that ToolSmith had hard-coded the builder’s email address into the plugin. To avoid that, see Write effective prompts.

To find what to improve, ask:

Where can I make this plugin more efficient?

What's the next best improvement I can make for this plugin?

Related documentation