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Inspect a tool

For operators who want to know what a tool actually is before authorising it: what it takes as input, what it gives back, what it requires, and which credentials are stored against it.

Prerequisites​

  • The application is open.
  • You can recognise the tool in the list (Web search, File write, Bash, and so on).
  • To read the contract of a tool, the developer mode is on (Settings, section Developer).

The difference with the Permissions screen​

Two screens, two questions:

  • Permissions answers "which agents may use this tool, and what do they ask first": the accesses of each agent, the consents given, their withdrawal. See Manage tool permissions.
  • Connections, section Built-in tools, answers "what is this tool": whether it is on, its configuration, and its contract. That is this page.

Read a tool's contract​

  1. In the sidebar, click Connections, then Apollia, built-in tools under Built-in tools. The page lists the tools shipped with Apollia, grouped by category, each with its switch and its state (Active, Disabled or Key required).

  2. With the developer mode on, click the Contract button on the tool's card, or right-click the card and choose View contract. A panel opens on the right. With the developer mode off, the page shows neither the button nor the technical identifiers.

  3. The panel shows, in order:

    • The display name and, under it, the technical identifier used everywhere else (the audit trail, the permission rules, a manifest).
    • Two badges: the kind of tool (Native, Connection or Python tool) and the version, each shown only when the runtime reports it.
    • The description the tool declares about itself.
    • Required permissions, as badges. This section is only shown when the tool reports permissions: an absent section means "not reported", never "requires nothing".
    • Input and Output, as an indented list of fields: name, type, whether it is required or optional, its default value and its allowed values when the schema states them. A schema that is not a field list, and any case the reading cannot flatten, falls back to the raw document, one click away behind Raw JSON in both sections.
    • Credentials, the keys stored for this tool.

  4. Close the panel with the ✕ in the header. Nothing is written from this panel, it reads.

A tool that is not registered in the runtime exposes no contract, and the panel says exactly that instead of showing an empty frame.

See the configured credentials​

At the bottom of the same page, a Credentials section lists every credential stored on this machine, one row per tool and key: the tool it belongs to and when it was added. The key name is shown with the developer mode on. Reload re-reads the list.

No value, and no fragment of a value, is ever displayed. The keys stay encrypted on the machine; only their names and their dates travel to the interface. A key is set in the tool's own configuration panel, behind the Configure button of its card.

An empty section is the normal state on a fresh installation: it means no tool has been given a key yet.

Verification​

  • The contract panel of the File write tool shows an input listing the fields the tool expects.
  • The technical identifier shown under the panel title is the one you find in the entries of the Activity log.

If it does not work​

  • There is no Contract button: the developer mode is off. Turn it on in Settings, section Developer.
  • The contract panel says the contract is unavailable: the tool appears in the list but is not registered in the runtime. Nothing is broken on your side, there is simply nothing to describe.
  • The Input section shows raw JSON instead of a field list: the schema is not a plain field list. The raw document is the whole contract, nothing was hidden.
  • A tool has a key configured but nothing shows in the Credentials section: click Reload. The list is read when the page opens, not on every change made elsewhere.

Technical reference: Apollia reference