# Setting up agent tools

Before you can [launch agents](./launching-agents.md) from Solo, you need to tell it which tools are available. You do this in **Settings > Agents > Agent tools**.

## Accessing agent settings

1. Open **Settings**. The default shortcut is `Cmd+,` on macOS and `Ctrl+,` on other platforms; it can be changed or disabled under **Settings > Hotkeys**.
2. In the Settings sidebar, choose **Agent tools** under **Agents**.

You can also run **Configure custom agent** from the command palette (`Cmd/Ctrl+K`) or the new agent/terminal picker (`Cmd/Ctrl+T`) to jump straight to this page.

The **Agents** group in Settings has these pages:

- **Agent tools** — the list of launchable agent CLIs, their [installation health](./installation-health.md), and their Solo MCP connection.
- **Names** — the app-level **Automatic renaming** setting.
- **Summaries** — the optional headless summarizer used for [auto-summarization](./auto-summarization.md).
- **Context pins** — which [terminal context pins](../terminal/context-pins.md) agent terminals show.
- **Timers** — whether agents can use Solo's [MCP timer tools](../mcp-tools/timers.md).
- **Key-value** — whether agents can use Solo's [MCP key-value tools](../mcp-tools/key-value.md).

## Built-in and custom tools

Solo seeds several agent tools out of the box, and you can add your own custom tools on top of those.

The built-in tools are:

- **Claude** (Claude Code)
- **Codex**
- **Amp**
- **Gemini** (Gemini CLI)
- **OpenCode**
- **Copilot** (GitHub Copilot CLI)
- **Kimi** (Kimi CLI)
- **Antigravity** (Antigravity CLI)
- **Muse**

Custom tools you add yourself are treated as **Generic** unless Solo recognizes them as one of the tools above.

**Solo doesn't install these CLIs for you.** You need to have the actual tool installed and available in your shell for Solo to use it. Solo checks whether each tool's CLI is actually installed and working — see [Installation health](./installation-health.md).

## Enabling and disabling tools

Each tool row has an enable toggle. Disabled tools won't appear in agent-picking UIs.

When a tool is saved in auto-detect mode, Solo probes the command with `--version` and also falls back to known command names such as `claude`, `codex`, `amp`, `gemini`, `opencode`, `copilot`, `kimi`, `agy`, and `muse`.

## Editing a tool

Each tool entry can define:

- Name
- Command
- Default arguments
- Automatic or manual tool type classification
- Prompt mode for generic tools
- Optional headless command for summarization workflows

For the default host installation, the **Default arguments** field is appended to normal launches. Existing environment-specific installations can retain their own stored command and arguments, so verify those values separately.

The **Tool type mode** can stay on auto-detect, or you can set it manually to Claude, Codex, Amp, Gemini, OpenCode, Copilot, Kimi, Antigravity, Muse, or Generic.

For generic tools, **Prompt delivery** controls how Solo sends the summarizer prompt to the headless command:

- **stdin** sends the prompt through standard input.
- **Appended as argument** writes the summarizer input to a temporary file, then appends an instruction containing that file's path as the final command argument.

## Connecting Solo to your agents

Agents can use Solo's [MCP tools](../mcp-tools/overview.md) once Solo's MCP server is added to the agent's own configuration. When a launchable agent isn't connected yet, the **Agent tools** page shows a **Connect Solo to your agents** banner, and that agent's row shows a **Connect Solo** button. Connected rows show **Solo connected**.

**Connect Solo** uses the provider's own setup path. For agents with an MCP command, such as Claude Code or Codex, Solo runs that command. For OpenCode, Antigravity, and Muse, Solo edits the agent's JSON or JSONC configuration file directly and keeps existing comments and formatting.

Solo won't edit a configuration file when doing so could lose data. It refuses, and leaves the file unchanged, when the file isn't valid JSON or JSONC, when a different `solo` MCP entry already exists, when two candidate files make the active configuration ambiguous, or when the file changes while Solo is preparing the update. The error names the file and what to fix. See [MCP server integration](../integrations/mcp-server.md) for manual setup.

## Adding custom agent tools

Use **Add tool** to create a new entry for any CLI-based agent that works in an interactive terminal session. You can also add the same CLI more than once with different names and default flags—for example, separate Codex presets for everyday work and harder tasks. See [Adding custom agents](./adding-custom-agents.md) for a complete example.

To make sure Solo can find your tools, your shell environment needs to be loaded correctly. See [Shell environment loading](../environment/shell-environment.md) for details.

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Are you a human? Read this doc on the web: https://soloterm.com/docs/agents/setting-up-tools