# Give your agent tools and integrations > Choose the tools and integrations an agent can use, and see how sign-in and approvals work. Answering from its knowledge is only part of an agent's job. Tools and integrations let it do more: hand a conversation to your team, work in GitHub or Notion, book a meeting in Calendly, or call your own API. You decide what each agent gets. ## Built-in abilities Some abilities are built in and always on for every agent, so they don't appear in the **Tools** list: searching the agent's Library and your portals, web search and a calculator. You don't need to add them, and you can't turn them off. ## Add tools 1. In **AI Agents**, open the row's actions menu (⋯) and select **Edit**. 2. Under **Tools and connections**, pick from **Tools**. The list shows the tools turned on for your workspace. If it says **No tools are turned on in this workspace.**, there's nothing to add yet. 3. Select **Save changes**. The agent uses the new tools from its next reply. Pick only the tools the agent's role needs. ## Hand the conversation to a person The **Request Operator** tool lets the agent ask for a person from your team when a visitor would be better served by one, such as for a refund, a billing question or a repeated failure. The request lands in **Inbox** as an AI-agent request, separate from the visitor's own **Talk to a person** button. Add it in **Tools**, or put it in a Skill with instructions on when to use it. See [Let visitors talk to a person](https://support.help.ai/inbox-and-cases/let-visitors-talk-to-a-person). ## Integrations An integration is something outside help.ai that the agent can use, such as **GitHub**, **Notion**, **Calendly**, a **Shopify store**, your own MCP server or your own API. Each one is added and signed in once, on the workspace's **Integrations** page, and every agent, deployment and AI Chat it's shared with can use it. See [Connect integrations](https://support.help.ai/workspace-and-billing/connect-integrations-and-credentials). 1. In **AI Agents**, open the row's actions menu (⋯) and select **Edit**. 2. Under **Tools and connections**, find **Integrations** and select **Choose integrations**. 3. Pick the ones the agent needs. The list is grouped by category, such as **Developer Tools** or **Scheduling**, and shows only the integrations shared with you. A **Connected** one can be picked; one that isn't signed in yet has a **Sign in** link instead. 4. Select **Save changes**. Each picked integration shows its status, and **Members only** when it isn't shared with visitors. To change the selection, select **Change integrations**, or remove one with the trash icon on its row. A connected integration with its own actions, such as GitHub, Notion or your own MCP server, also has **Test connection**. It connects the way a chat would and shows what it found, such as **Connected · 49 tools**, or what went wrong and how to fix it. To add one you don't have yet, select **Add integration**. It opens in a new tab, so the changes you haven't saved on the agent stay. Then pick it under **Choose integrations**. ### How the agent uses them - **Their own actions.** GitHub, Linear, Slack, Stripe, Notion, Calendly, Sentry, a Shopify store, your own MCP server and others bring their own actions, such as searching commits or booking a meeting. In a chat, each step is named after the integration, such as **GitHub · Search commits**. - **HTTP Request.** Every other integration, such as a **Custom API**, is called with the **HTTP Request** tool, which the agent gets along with it. The agent names the integration that signs in, and its key is added only on that integration's allowed sites. - **Your note.** The agent reads each integration's **When should the AI use it? (optional)** note, such as "Use this Stripe account for refunds only." The agent never sees a key or password. If a tool's answer repeats one, the agent sees [REDACTED] instead. If an integration isn't shared with a chat, isn't signed in or needs signing in again, the agent tells the person it can't use it and carries on without it. ### Public chats A widget or hosted-page deployment can add integrations for its chats: in its **Chat widget** tab → **Features**, pick them under **Integrations in this chat (optional)**. They're added to the agent's own. Visitors' chats use only integrations shared with visitors (**Who can use it** → **Visitors in public chats**); the pickers mark the others **Members only**. In visitors' chats, an integration that signs in with your workspace's account offers only its read-only actions, and HTTP Request only reads. ## Approvals Some actions ask before they run, such as tools that send a message, most integration actions that change something, and HTTP requests that do more than read: - In your own chats, you approve or reject the step in the conversation. - In the widget, visitors see approve and reject controls while **Visitor approvals** is on in the deployment's **Chat widget** tab → **Features**. It's on by default, and it also lets the agent ask visitors for missing details. ## Test the agent's tools Test chats in the dashboard use the agent's own tools and integrations. To check approvals the way visitors see them, use the deployment's **Preview**. See [Test your AI agent before customers see it](https://support.help.ai/getting-started/test-your-agent-before-launch). ## What to give an agent | The agent needs to... | Give it | | --- | --- | | Answer from your documents and website | **Library** items, under **Knowledge** | | Search the web or calculate | Nothing: it's built in | | Hand a conversation to your team | The **Request Operator** tool | | Follow a procedure the same way every time | A **Skill** | | Work in GitHub, Stripe, Linear or Notion | That integration, under **Integrations** | | Find open times and book meetings in Calendly | The **Calendly** integration, signed in with your Calendly account | | Call your own API | A **Custom API** integration. The agent calls it with **HTTP Request** | | Find products and build a cart on your Shopify store | A **Shopify store** integration, with your store's domain | Grant the least the role needs. A listed tool doesn't mean every action in that service works the way you expect, so test each action you rely on in **Preview**.