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docs: note write_file overwrite behavior [deepagents PR #4109] #4746

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Nishitha M (imnishitha) merged 2 commits into from
Jul 7, 2026
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docs: note write_file overwrite behavior [deepagents PR #4109] #4746

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docs: note write_file overwrite behavior for deepagents>=0.7.0a2
imnishitha Jul 6, 2026
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remove unwanted chars
imnishitha Jul 6, 2026
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8 changes: 7 additions & 1 deletion src/oss/deepagents/overview.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -290,12 +290,18 @@ The backends support the following file system operations:
| ---- | ----------- |
| `ls` | List files in a directory with metadata (size, modified time) |
| `read_file` | Read file contents with line numbers, supports offset/limit for large files. Also supports returning multimodal content blocks for non-text files (images, video, audio, and documents). See supported extensions below. |
| `write_file` | Create new files |
| `write_file` | Create a new file, or overwrite an existing one |
| `edit_file` | Perform exact string replacements in files (with global replace mode) |
| `glob` | Find files matching patterns (e.g., `**/*.py`) |
| `grep` | Search file contents with multiple output modes (files only, content with context, or counts) |
| `execute` | Run shell commands in the environment (available with [sandbox backends](/oss/deepagents/sandboxes) only) |

:::python
<Note>
`write_file` overwrites a file if it already exists, as of `deepagents>=0.7.0a2`. On earlier versions, `write_file` errors instead. Use `edit_file` to modify an existing file.
</Note>
:::

<Accordion title="Supported multimodal file extensions">

| Type | Extensions |
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8 changes: 7 additions & 1 deletion src/oss/deepagents/tools.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -78,14 +78,20 @@ In addition to the tools you provide, every Deep Agent comes with a built-in set
| ---- | ----------- |
| `ls` | List files in a directory |
| `read_file` | Read file contents (with pagination and multimodal support) |
| `write_file` | Create new files |
| `write_file` | Create a new file, or overwrite an existing one |
| `edit_file` | Perform exact string replacements in files |
| `glob` | Find files matching a glob pattern |
| `grep` | Search file contents |
| `execute` | Run shell commands (sandbox backends only) |
| `task` | Spawn a subagent to handle a delegated task |
| `write_todos` | Manage a structured todo list |

:::python
<Note>
`write_file` overwrites a file if it already exists, as of `deepagents>=0.7.0a2`. On earlier versions, `write_file` errors instead. Use `edit_file` to modify an existing file.
</Note>
:::

For a full breakdown of what each built-in tool does, see [Harness overview](/oss/deepagents/overview#execution-environment).

## Multimodal tool outputs
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