> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.clinia.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Tools and Data Integration

> System Tools and External Services

<Tip>
  Clinia's flexible tool architecture and native support for FHIR/OMOP ingestion make it possible to build **sophisticated, reliable agents** that can search, reason and act over diverse healthcare data.
</Tip>

## Agent-Tool Interaction

Agents do not operate in isolation. They rely on **tools**—external functions or services that perform specific tasks, such as retrieving medical records, performing semantic search or sending notifications. Clinia's platform provides a flexible way to connect tools to agents while also making it easy to ingest structured healthcare data from widely adopted standards like **FHIR** and **OMOP**.

## Types of Tools

Clinia supports three categories of tools:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="System Tools">
    ### System Tools

    Built‑in services that handle core tasks such as:

    * 🔍 **[Search capabilities](/explanation/search)** through your data partitions
    * 🧠 **Memory management** for agent state
    * 🏥 **Data Management tooling** to interact with Clinia's Data Fabric

    <Info>
      These tools leverage Clinia's health‑grade search infrastructure and are ready to use out of the box.
    </Info>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="MCP Server Tools">
    ### MCP Server Tools

    External services deployed with Model Context Protocol (MCP):

    * 🌐 **GraphQL APIs** and external services
    * 🔌 **Connected through Clinia connectors**
    * 🛠️ **Flexible integration** with existing systems

    <Tip>
      Perfect for integrating with existing other services or external APIs that your agents need to call.
    </Tip>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Custom Tools">
    ### Custom Tools *(Coming Soon)*

    A forthcoming feature that will let you deploy your own code as a tool:

    * 💻 **Deploy custom code** through our Clinia Function API as agent tools
    * 🔒 **Run inside Clinia's WebAssembly runtime** for security
    * 🚀 **Extend agent capabilities** without leaving the platform

    <Warning>
      This feature is currently in development and will be available in a future release.
    </Warning>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Tool Orchestration

To coordinate tool calls, Clinia offers **tool rules**:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Instantiation Rule" icon="play">
    Ensures that a specific tool is called first when an agent starts, perfect for initialization tasks.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Termination Tool Rule" icon="stop">
    Stops agent execution after a particular tool is used, useful for workflow completion.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Parent/Child Rules" icon="sitemap">
    Complex workflows can be described through combinations of parent/child tool rules, giving developers fine‑grained control over the agent's behavior.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>