The tool pipeline of [dsh-tools](../../packages/core/tools). [core.md](core.md) introduces `ToolDefinition` as the one pipeline-authoring type promoted to the spine and `ToolSchema` as the model-facing wire shape. This page owns the full `ToolDefinition`, the typed schema DSL that builds it, the waterfall execution shapes, and the UI-presentation vocabulary.
A `ToolSchema` (the model-facing fields) plus the `execute` function and optional UI presenters. The registry holds these; the loop dispatches calls through them. The registry's `schemas()` builds the model-facing `ToolSchema[]` by an explicit allowlist — `execute`/`presentCall`/`presentResult` must never leak into a model request.
`execute` receives `args: unknown` — a raw `ToolDefinition` validates its own input. First-party tools don't write that by hand; they use `defineTool`, which validates and narrows for them.
## The typed schema DSL
Plugin authors write per-property specs with a boolean `required: true`, and a type-level helper maps the spec to the `execute` argument type — zero casts. The DSL is *machinery that types* `ToolDefinition`; it is intentionally a sub-page detail, not core.
/** Per-property required flag (NOT the JSON Schema top-level required array). */
required?: true
/** Human-readable description, surfaced in the JSON Schema as well. */
description?: string
/** Enum of allowed values (strings only). */
enum?: string[]
/** Default value. */
default?: unknown
/** Nested properties for type: 'object'. */
properties?: SchemaSpec
/** Items schema for type: 'array'. */
items?: SchemaProp
}
```
```ts type-equiv
type SchemaSpec = Record<string, SchemaProp>
```
`SchemaType` is the primitive union `'string' | 'number' | 'boolean' | 'object' | 'array'`. `InferArgs<S>` maps a `SchemaSpec` to the TS argument type — `required: true` props become required keys, everything else genuinely optional:
```ts type-equiv
type InferArgs<S extends SchemaSpec> = Simplify<
& { [K in RequiredKeys<S>]: InferPropValue<S[K]> }
& { [K in Exclude<keyof S, RequiredKeys<S>>]?: InferPropValue<S[K]> }
>
```
`defineTool({ name, description, parameters, execute, … })` ties it together: `parameters` is a `SchemaSpec`, `execute(args, exec)` gets `args: InferArgs<typeof parameters>`, and the helper converts the spec to JSON Schema (`schemaSpecToJsonSchema`) for the wire and validates model-generated args (`validateArgs`) before the typed body runs. A mismatch throws `ToolArgsError` (`code: 'INVALID_ARGS'`), which the registry turns into an `isError` result so the model can self-correct. Why a custom DSL and not schemastery: tool parameters need JSON Schema (the LLM wire format), not validation/transformation — the lightweight DSL gives the best authoring DX with the smallest surface.
`ctx.tools.execute()` runs each call through a two-waterfall pipeline — `tools/pre-execute` (the allow/deny/ask gate) → core dispatch → `tools/post-execute` (inspect/replace the result, attach context) — the seams where sandbox, permission, hook, and plan-mode plugins gate or transform a call. The pending call is a `ToolExecution`; the outcome is a `ToolExecutionResult`.
Each interception waterfall returns a typed **Decision** (the idiom shared with the `agent/*` seams). `tools/pre-execute` listeners receive `(exec, next)` and return a `PreToolDecision`; `tools/post-execute` listeners receive `(exec, result, next)` and return a `PostToolDecision`:
Call `next()` to delegate to the default (allow / accept-unchanged), or return a decision to short-circuit. A `pre-execute` `deny` (or `ask`, which degrades to deny until the permission system lands) skips dispatch and yields an `isError` result; input rewrite is deliberately NOT offered on `PreToolDecision` (it would desync the pre-execution audit/history/UI from what ran — its own proposed RFC). A `post-execute` `accept` may replace the model-facing `content` (clean, because `tool/result` is logged after `execute()` returns); a `block` turns the call into an `isError` whose content is the corrective `feedback`. Core dispatch sits between the waterfalls as plain code; the tool body keeps its own try/catch so a thrown tool still reaches `post-execute` as an `isError`. An unregistered tool routes through the same catch as a tool-thrown error, so both failure classes get a structured `{ name, code }` (`ToolNotFoundError` → `UNKNOWN_TOOL`) — the loop records a failed tool call instead of failing the whole turn.
How a tool wants its call shown in a UI (an editor tool-call card, a CLI log line), provider-neutral so a tool describes itself without depending on any client protocol. `presentCall`/`presentResult` return a **`card`-tagged render intent** — a discriminated union a UI bridge switches on:
- `ToolResultView` (completed): `{ card: 'generic', title?, content? }`, `{ card: 'terminal', title?, output?, exitCode?, signal? }` (the captured run output + exit; a capable UI shows an exit-status pill, an incapable one gets a fenced ` ```console ` fallback the bridge derives from `output`), or `{ card: 'diff', title?, diffs }` (a completed file mutation → the change to show, typically the applied hunks with context lines computed from the before/after content, or a whole-file diff when there is no before-image — e.g. a file create. A `tool_call_update`'s content REPLACES the call's content, so a mutation tool returns this even when it duplicates the call-time snippet, to keep the result from clobbering the diff with result text).
`ToolCallKind` (`'read' | 'edit' | 'delete' | 'move' | 'search' | 'execute' | 'fetch' | 'other'`) picks an icon on a generic card. `FileLocation` (`{ path, line? }`) and `FileDiff` (`{ path, oldText, newText }`) are the shared file-card vocabulary. The design is pinned in [the render-intent-union RFC](../rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-02-tool-render-intent-union.md); the ACP bridge maps a `diff` card to a `{ type: 'diff' }` content block, a `terminal` card to the `_meta` terminal convention, and relativizes a file card's title against the session cwd.
The full presentation field docs live in [`packages/core/tools/src/presentation.ts`](../../packages/core/tools/src/presentation.ts). The bash tool's own schemas (`bash`/`bash_output`/`bash_kill`) and the executor they drive are on [bash.md](bash.md).
