Skip to main content

What are Tools and Apps

To make an agent useful, it needs to be able to take action — not just answer questions. Tools and Apps are how you give agents the ability to interact with the world outside Ordify.

The hierarchy​

App
└── Tools
    └── Agent uses Tools to take action
  • Apps are integration containers — a connected service like Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack, or Salesforce.
  • Tools are the individual actions within an app — for example, within Gmail: "Send Email," "Read Email," "Create Draft."

An agent doesn't use an App directly. It uses specific Tools from within an App.

Example​

You connect the Google Sheets app to Ordify. Google Sheets exposes tools like:

  • Read Row
  • Create Row
  • Update Cell
  • Search Sheet

When you assign the "Create Row" and "Update Cell" tools to an agent, that agent can write to your spreadsheets. It cannot read from them unless you also assign "Read Row."

This granularity means you have precise control over what each agent can and cannot do.

Two ways to connect​

There are two methods for connecting apps to Ordify:

Connect Apps​

The easiest way. Browse a marketplace of 3,000+ pre-built integrations and connect popular services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion, Slack, Salesforce, and more — with a single click. No code required.

Connect Apps uses industry-standard OAuth protocols, so you authenticate once and Ordify can act on your behalf within the permissions you've granted.

Best for: Standard SaaS applications and popular third-party services.

MCP Servers​

The developer option. Set up your own MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server to expose custom tools from your internal APIs, databases, or self-hosted services.

Best for: Internal systems, custom logic, or services not available in the Connect Apps marketplace.

See What are MCP Servers for a full explanation of when and why to use MCP.

Organizing tools with Skills​

An App may expose hundreds of tools. Assigning all of them to an agent creates noise — the agent has to figure out which tool to use in any given situation, which slows it down and introduces errors.

Skills solve this by bundling a focused subset of tools with step-by-step instructions. Instead of giving an agent all 80 Gmail tools, a "Handle Support Emails" skill might only expose 4 specific tools with precise instructions for when to use each.

What's next​