Skip to content
Merged
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
25 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
663e75f
[agent builder] add built-in tools reference
leemthompo Jan 12, 2026
004aa34
Merge branch 'main' into leemthompo/ab-built-in-tools
leemthompo Jan 12, 2026
12cf54a
tweaks
leemthompo Jan 12, 2026
f5dd687
add TODOs to mention built-in agents
leemthompo Jan 12, 2026
7d54dc3
Apply suggestions from Steph
leemthompo Jan 13, 2026
6922607
Apply Ben's suggestions
leemthompo Jan 14, 2026
a20aecf
Replace get_data_sources with get_index_info tool (#4630)
Copilot Jan 14, 2026
84aef25
comment out dashboard tools
leemthompo Jan 15, 2026
ee51d6b
comment syntax
leemthompo Jan 15, 2026
fadf67b
mark dashboard tools for 9.4
leemthompo Jan 15, 2026
d97e800
comment out attachment tools for moment
leemthompo Jan 16, 2026
e8ad3a2
update frontmatter
leemthompo Jan 16, 2026
7abd97b
add description
leemthompo Jan 16, 2026
e38b565
typo
leemthompo Jan 16, 2026
1c1f31d
[agent builder] Add built-in agents reference page (#4690)
charlotte-hoblik Jan 19, 2026
d243484
Merge branch 'main' into leemthompo/ab-built-in-tools
leemthompo Jan 19, 2026
7ae2d39
Fix indentation in applies_to's
leemthompo Jan 19, 2026
01c517e
remove speculative "=" in applies_to
leemthompo Jan 19, 2026
4fd2592
tweak links and nav titles
leemthompo Jan 19, 2026
2f7b727
refactor tools structure, mention agent availability, comment out ble…
leemthompo Jan 20, 2026
6f36b9a
nit
leemthompo Jan 20, 2026
b8860f3
delete generic sentence not specific to built-in tools
leemthompo Jan 20, 2026
37cd018
Merge branch 'main' into leemthompo/ab-built-in-tools
leemthompo Jan 20, 2026
5b9a093
delete
leemthompo Jan 20, 2026
5c6a90b
Merge branch 'main' into leemthompo/ab-built-in-tools
leemthompo Jan 20, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
---
description: Reference of all built-in agents available in Elastic Agent Builder
navigation_title: "Built-in agents"
applies_to:
stack: preview =9.2, ga 9.3
serverless: preview
products:
- id: elasticsearch
- id: kibana
- id: observability
- id: security
- id: cloud-serverless
---

# {{agent-builder}} built-in agents reference

This page lists the built-in agents available in {{agent-builder}}. Built-in agents are pre-configured by Elastic with specific instructions and tools to handle common use cases.

You cannot modify or delete built-in agents. To customize one, you can clone it and [create a custom agent](agent-builder-agents.md#create-a-new-agent-in-the-gui).

Check notice on line 19 in explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/builtin-agents-reference.md

View workflow job for this annotation

GitHub Actions / preview / vale

Elastic.WordChoice: Consider using 'copy' instead of 'clone', unless the term is in the UI.

## Availability

The availability of specific agents depends on your solution view or serverless project type.

:::{note}
{{product.observability}} and {{product.security}} users must opt-in to use {{agent-builder}}. To learn more, refer to [](/explore-analyze/ai-features/ai-chat-experiences/ai-agent-or-ai-assistant.md#switch-between-chat-experiences).
:::

## Elastic AI Agent
```{applies_to}
stack: preview =9.2, ga 9.3
serverless: ga
```

The **Elastic AI Agent** is the default general-purpose agent for {{es}}. It is designed to help with a wide range of tasks, from writing {{esql}} queries to exploring your data indices.

**Assigned tools:**
* All [**Platform core tools**](./tools/builtin-tools-reference.md#platform-core-tools)

## Observability Agent
```{applies_to}
stack: preview 9.3
serverless:
observability: preview
```

A specialized agent for logs, metrics, and traces. It is designed to assist with infrastructure monitoring and application performance troubleshooting.


**Assigned tools:**
* All [**{{observability}} tools**](./tools/builtin-tools-reference.md#observability-tools)
* All [**Platform core tools**](./tools/builtin-tools-reference.md#platform-core-tools)

## Threat Hunting Agent
```{applies_to}
stack: preview 9.3
serverless:
security: preview
```

A specialized agent for security alert analysis tasks, including alert investigation and security documentation. It helps analysts triage alerts and understand complex security events.


**Assigned tools:**
* All [**Security tools**](./tools/builtin-tools-reference.md#security-tools)
* All [**Platform core tools**](./tools/builtin-tools-reference.md#platform-core-tools)

## Related pages

- [Agents](agent-builder-agents.md)
- [Create a custom agent](agent-builder-agents.md#create-a-new-agent-in-the-gui)
- [Built-in tools reference](./tools/builtin-tools-reference.md)
22 changes: 2 additions & 20 deletions explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/tools.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -42,27 +42,9 @@ Tool execution and result processing consume tokens. To understand how usage is

{{agent-builder}} ships with a comprehensive set of built-in tools that provide core capabilities for working with your {{es}} data. These tools are ready to use. They cannot be modified or deleted.

Key built-in tools include:
Built-in tools serve as building blocks for more complex interactions and provide the foundation for agent capabilities. They include tools for executing {{esql}} queries, retrieving documents, exploring indices, and searching data.

- `.execute_esql`: Executes an {{esql}} query and returns the results in a tabular format
- `.generate_esql`: Generates an {{esql}} query from a natural language query
- `.get_document_by_id`: Retrieves the full content of an {{es}} document based on its ID and index name
- `.get_index_mapping`: Retrieves mappings for the specified index or indices
- `.index_explorer`: Lists relevant indices and corresponding mappings based on a natural language query
- `.list_indices`: Lists the indices in the {{es}} cluster the current user has access to
- `.search`: Searches and analyzes data within a specific {{es}} index

Built-in tools serve as building blocks for more complex interactions and provide the foundation for agent capabilities.

:::{note}

Tool namespacing helps organize and identify tools by their source. Built-in tools use a consistent prefix (`platform.core`) to indicate they are built-in capabilities. This convention:

- Prevents naming conflicts between system and custom tools
- Makes it easy to identify tool sources
- Provides a consistent pattern for tool identification

:::
For the complete list, refer to [Built-in tools reference](tools/builtin-tools-reference.md).

## Custom tools

Expand Down
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
---
description: Reference of all built-in tools available in Elastic Agent Builder
navigation_title: "Built-in tools"
applies_to:
stack: ga 9.2+
serverless: ga
---

<!-- Note: This file contains commented-out tool sections for features on main that are not yet available in released versions. -->

# Elastic Agent Builder built-in tools reference

This page lists all built-in tools available in {{agent-builder}}. Built-in tools enable core operations for working with {{es}} data across platform, observability, and security use cases out-of-the-box.

Built-in tools are read-only: you can't modify or delete them. To check which tools are available in your Elastic deployment, refer to [find all available tools](/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/tools.md#find-available-tools).

:::{tip}
For an overview of how tools work in {{agent-builder}}, refer to the [Tools overview](../tools.md).
:::

## Availability

Built-in platform core tools are available across all deployments, while observability and security tools are available in their respective serverless projects (or solution views). Tools use consistent prefixes (`platform.core`, `observability`, `security`) that reflect this scoping.

## Agents and tools

[Built-in agents](/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/builtin-agents-reference.md) are pre-configured with relevant tools. For example, the Observability agent includes all observability tools by default. You can assign any available built-in tools to [custom agents](/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/agent-builder-agents.md#create-a-new-agent-in-the-gui) you create.

## Platform core tools
```{applies_to}
stack: preview =9.2, ga 9.3
serverless:
elasticsearch: ga
observability: ga
security: ga
```

Platform core tools provide fundamental capabilities for interacting with {{es}} data, executing queries, and working with indices. They are relevant to many use cases.

:::{note}
All [built-in agents](/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/builtin-agents-reference.md) are assigned these tools by default.
:::

`platform.core.execute_esql` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.2+`
: Executes an [{{esql}}](elasticsearch://reference/query-languages/esql.md) query and returns the results in a tabular format.

`platform.core.generate_esql` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.2+`
: Generates an [{{esql}}](elasticsearch://reference/query-languages/esql.md) query from a natural language query.

`platform.core.get_document_by_id` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.2+`
: Retrieves the full content of an {{es}} document based on its ID and index name.

`platform.core.get_index_mapping` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.2+`
: Retrieves mappings for the specified index or indices.

`platform.core.index_explorer` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.2+`
: Lists relevant indices and corresponding mappings based on a natural language query.

`platform.core.list_indices` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.2+`
: Lists the indices, aliases, and data streams in the {{es}} cluster the current user has access to.

`platform.core.search` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.2+`
: Searches and analyzes data within your {{es}} cluster using full-text relevance searches or structured analytical queries.

`platform.core.product_documentation` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.3+`
: Searches and retrieves documentation about Elastic products ({{kib}}, Elasticsearch, Elastic Security, Elastic Observability).

`platform.core.integration_knowledge` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.3+`
: Searches and retrieves knowledge from [{{fleet}}](/reference/fleet/index.md)-installed integrations, including information on how to configure and use integrations for data ingestion.

<!-- `platform.core.create_visualization` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.4+`
: Creates a [Lens](/explore-analyze/visualize/lens.md) visualization based on specifications. -->

`platform.core.cases` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.3+`
: Searches and retrieves [cases](/explore-analyze/alerts-cases/cases.md) for tracking and managing issues.

`platform.core.get_workflow_execution_status` {applies_to}`stack: ga 9.3+`
: Retrieves the execution status of a workflow.

<!--
### Attachment tools
Copy link
Contributor Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

@dhru42 are these attachment tools shipping in 9.3?

```{applies_to}
stack: ga 9.3+
```

% TODO are these available in 9.3?

The following tools manage file attachments in conversations:

`platform.core.attachment_read`
: Reads the content of a file attachment.

`platform.core.attachment_update`
: Updates the content of a file attachment.

`platform.core.attachment_add`
: Adds a new file attachment to the conversation.

`platform.core.attachment_list`
: Lists all file attachments in the conversation.

`platform.core.attachment_diff`
: Shows the differences between versions of a file attachment.
-->

<!--
## Dashboard tools
```{applies_to}
stack: ga 9.4+
```

Dashboard tools enable agents to create and manage [Dashboards](/explore-analyze/dashboards.md).

`dashboard.create_dashboard`
: Creates a dashboard with specified title, description, panels, and markdown summary.

`dashboard.update_dashboard`
: Updates an existing dashboard with new panels or modifications.
-->

## Observability tools
```{applies_to}
stack: ga 9.3+
serverless:
observability: ga
```

Observability tools provide specialized capabilities for monitoring applications, infrastructure, and logs.

:::{note}
The [built-in Observability agent](/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/builtin-agents-reference.md#observability-agent) is assigned these tools by default.
:::

`observability.get_alerts`
: Retrieves Observability [alerts](/solutions/observability/incident-management/alerting.md) within a specified time range, supporting filtering by status (active/recovered) and KQL queries.

`observability.get_services`
: Retrieves information about services being monitored in [APM](/solutions/observability/apm/index.md).

`observability.get_hosts`
: Retrieves information about hosts being monitored in infrastructure monitoring.

`observability.get_index_info`
: Retrieves information about Observability indices and their fields. Supports operations for getting an overview of available data sources, listing fields that contain actual data, and retrieving distinct values or ranges for specific fields.

`observability.get_trace_metrics`
: Retrieves metrics and statistics for distributed traces.

`observability.get_downstream_dependencies`
: Identifies downstream dependencies (other services, databases, external APIs) for a specific service to understand service topology and blast radius.

`observability.get_log_categories`
: Retrieves categorized log patterns to identify common log message types.

`observability.get_log_change_points`
: Detects statistically significant changes in log patterns and volumes.

`observability.get_metric_change_points`
: Detects statistically significant changes in metrics across groups (for example, by service, host, or custom fields), identifying spikes, dips, step changes, and trend changes.

`observability.get_correlated_logs`
: Finds logs that are correlated with a specific event or time period.

`observability.run_log_rate_analysis`
: Analyzes log ingestion rates to identify anomalies and trends.

`observability.get_anomaly_detection_jobs`
: Retrieves {{ml-app}} [{{anomaly-jobs}}](/explore-analyze/machine-learning/anomaly-detection.md) and their top anomaly records for investigating outliers and abnormal behavior.

Check notice on line 168 in explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/tools/builtin-tools-reference.md

View workflow job for this annotation

GitHub Actions / preview / vale

Elastic.WordChoice: Consider using 'atypical, not typical' instead of 'abnormal', unless the term is in the UI.

## Security tools
```{applies_to}
stack: ga 9.3+
serverless:
security: ga
```

Security tools provide specialized capabilities for security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response.

:::{note}
The [built-in Threat Hunting Agent](/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/builtin-agents-reference.md#threat-hunting-agent) is assigned these tools by default.
:::

`security.alerts`
: Searches and analyzes security alerts using full-text or structured queries for finding, counting, aggregating, or summarizing alerts.

<!-- `security.entity_risk_score`
: Retrieves [risk scores for entities](/solutions/security/advanced-entity-analytics/entity-risk-scoring.md) (users, hosts, and services) to identify high-risk entities in the environment. -->

<!-- `security.attack_discovery_search`
: Returns any related [attack discoveries](/solutions/security/ai/attack-discovery.md) from the last week, given one or more alert IDs.-->

`security.security_labs_search`
: Searches [Elastic Security Labs](https://www.elastic.co/security-labs) research and threat intelligence content.

## Related pages

- [Tools in {{agent-builder}}](../tools.md)
- [Custom ES|QL tools](esql-tools.md)
- [Custom index search tools](index-search-tools.md)
3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions explore-analyze/toc.yml
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -178,8 +178,11 @@ toc:
children:
- hidden: ai-features/agent-builder/standalone-and-flyout-modes.md
- file: ai-features/agent-builder/agent-builder-agents.md
children:
- file: ai-features/agent-builder/builtin-agents-reference.md
- file: ai-features/agent-builder/tools.md
children:
- file: ai-features/agent-builder/tools/builtin-tools-reference.md
- file: ai-features/agent-builder/tools/esql-tools.md
- file: ai-features/agent-builder/tools/index-search-tools.md
- file: ai-features/agent-builder/tools/mcp-tools.md
Expand Down
Loading