btw_tools: Tools: Register tools from btw

In btw: A Toolkit for Connecting R and Large Language Models

Tools: Register tools from btw

Description

The btw_tools() function provides a list of tools that can be registered with an ellmer chat via chat$set_tools() that allow the chat to interface with your computational environment. Chats returned by this function have access to the tools:

Group: docs

Name	Description
btw_tool_docs_available_vignettes()	List available vignettes for an R package.
btw_tool_docs_help_page()	Get help page from package.
btw_tool_docs_package_help_topics()	Get available help topics for an R package.
btw_tool_docs_package_news()	Read the release notes (NEWS) for a package.
btw_tool_docs_vignette()	Get a package vignette in plain text.

Group: env

Name	Description
btw_tool_env_describe_data_frame()	Show the data frame or table or get information about the structure of a data frame or table.
btw_tool_env_describe_environment()	List and describe items in the R session's global environment.

Group: files

Name	Description
btw_tool_files_code_search()	Search code files in the project.
btw_tool_files_list_files()	List files or directories in the project.
btw_tool_files_read_text_file()	Read an entire text file.
btw_tool_files_write_text_file()	Write content to a text file.

Group: git

Name	Description
btw_tool_git_branch_checkout()	Switch to a different git branch.
btw_tool_git_branch_create()	Create a new git branch.
btw_tool_git_branch_list()	List git branches in the repository.
btw_tool_git_commit()	Stage files and create a git commit.
btw_tool_git_diff()	View changes in the working directory or a commit.
btw_tool_git_log()	Show the commit history for a repository.
btw_tool_git_status()	Show the status of the git working directory.

Group: github

Name	Description
btw_tool_github()	Execute R code that calls the GitHub API using gh().

Group: ide

Name	Description
btw_tool_ide_read_current_editor()	Read the contents of the editor that is currently open in the user's IDE.

Group: search

Name	Description
btw_tool_search_package_info()	Describe a CRAN package.
btw_tool_search_packages()	Search for an R package on CRAN.

Group: session

Name	Description
btw_tool_session_check_package_installed()	Check if a package is installed in the current session.
btw_tool_session_package_info()	Verify that a specific package is installed, or find out which packages are in use in the current session.
btw_tool_session_platform_info()	Describes the R version, operating system, language and locale settings for the user's system.

Group: web

Name	Description
btw_tool_web_read_url()	Read a web page and convert it to Markdown format.

Usage

btw_tools(...)

Arguments

...

Optional names of tools or tool groups to include when registering tools. By default all btw tools are included. For example, use "docs" to include only the documentation related tools, or ⁠"env", "docs", "session"⁠ for the collection of environment, documentation and session tools, and so on. The names provided can be: The name of a tool, such as "btw_tool_env_describe_data_frame". The name of a tool group, such as "env", which will include all tools in that group. The tool name without the btw_tool_ prefix, such as "env_describe_data_frame".

Value

Registers the tools with chat, updating the chat object in place. The chat input is returned invisibly.

See Also

Other Tools: btw_tool_docs_package_news(), btw_tool_env_describe_data_frame(), btw_tool_env_describe_environment(), btw_tool_files_code_search(), btw_tool_files_list_files(), btw_tool_files_read_text_file(), btw_tool_files_write_text_file(), btw_tool_ide_read_current_editor(), btw_tool_package_docs, btw_tool_search_packages(), btw_tool_session_package_info(), btw_tool_session_platform_info(), btw_tool_web_read_url()

Examples

# requires an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
ch <- ellmer::chat_anthropic()

# register all of the available tools
ch$set_tools(btw_tools())

# or register only the tools related to fetching documentation
ch$set_tools(btw_tools("docs"))

# ensure that the current tools persist
ch$set_tools(c(ch$get_tools(), btw_tools()))

btw documentation built on Nov. 5, 2025, 7:45 p.m.