Building custom tools in Agentic AI - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to define a simple tool function that returns the square of a number.

Agentic AI

def square_number(num):
    return num [1] num

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A+

B*

C-

D/

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using + instead of * will add the number to itself, not square it.

Using - or / will cause incorrect results or errors.

The function should multiply the number by itself to get the square. Using * performs multiplication.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to create a tool that checks if a string contains the word 'AI'.

Agentic AI

def contains_ai(text):
    return [1] in text

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A'ai'

B'aI'

C'AI'

D'Ai'

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using lowercase 'ai' will not match uppercase 'AI' in the text.

Using mixed case strings will cause the check to fail.

The function checks if the exact string 'AI' is in the text. The correct case is important.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the tool that returns the first element of a list.

Agentic AI

def first_element(items):
    return items[1]0

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A(

B<

C{

D[

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using parentheses or curly braces causes syntax errors.

Using angle brackets is invalid syntax in Python.

To access the first element of a list, use square brackets [] with index 0.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create a tool that filters even numbers from a list.

Agentic AI

def filter_even(numbers):
    return [num for num in numbers if num [1] 2 [2] 0]

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A%

B==

C!=

D//

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using integer division // instead of modulus.

Using != instead of == will filter odd numbers instead.

The tool uses the modulus operator % to check if the number divided by 2 has a remainder of 0, meaning it is even.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a tool that builds a dictionary of word lengths for words longer than 3 characters.

Agentic AI

def word_lengths(words):
    return { [1]: [2] for word in words if len(word) [3] 3 }

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aword

Blen(word)

C>

D<=

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using <= instead of > will include shorter words.

Swapping key and value will create incorrect dictionary entries.

The dictionary comprehension uses the word as the key and its length as the value, including only words longer than 3 characters.

Practice

1. What is the main purpose of building custom tools for an AI agent?

easy

A. To change the AI's language automatically

B. To add special skills that help the AI perform specific tasks

C. To reduce the size of the AI model

D. To make the AI run faster on any computer

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand what custom tools do

   Custom tools add new abilities or skills to an AI, making it better at certain jobs.

2. Step 2: Compare options to the purpose

   Only To add special skills that help the AI perform specific tasks talks about adding special skills, which matches the purpose of custom tools.

3. Final Answer:

   To add special skills that help the AI perform specific tasks -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Custom tools = add special skills [OK]

Hint: Custom tools add new skills to AI for tasks [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking custom tools speed up AI generally
• Confusing tool purpose with model size
• Assuming tools change AI language automatically

2. Which of the following is the correct way to define a custom tool in Python for an AI agent?

easy

A. tool = Tool(name='search', func=search_function)

B. tool = Tool('search', func=search_function)

C. tool = Tool(description='Find info', func=search_function)

D. tool = Tool(name='search', description='Find info', func=search_function)

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall required fields for a custom tool

   A custom tool needs a name, description, and a function to work properly.

2. Step 2: Check which option includes all three

   Only tool = Tool(name='search', description='Find info', func=search_function) has name, description, and func parameters correctly set.

3. Final Answer:

   tool = Tool(name='search', description='Find info', func=search_function) -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Tool needs name, description, and func [OK]

Hint: Include name, description, and func when defining tools [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting description or name
• Passing parameters in wrong order
• Using wrong parameter names

3. Given this Python code for a custom tool, what will be the output when calling tool.func('hello')?

def shout(text):
    return text.upper() + '!!!'
tool = Tool(name='shout', description='Make text loud', func=shout)

medium

A. 'HELLO!!!'

B. 'hello!!!'

C. 'hello'

D. Error: func is not callable

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the function behavior

   The function shout converts text to uppercase and adds three exclamation marks.

2. Step 2: Apply the function to 'hello'

   Calling shout('hello') returns 'HELLO!!!'. Since tool.func points to shout, tool.func('hello') does the same.

3. Final Answer:

   'HELLO!!!' -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   shout('hello') = 'HELLO!!!' [OK]

Hint: Check function logic and apply input to predict output [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Ignoring uppercase conversion
• Missing exclamation marks
• Assuming func is not callable

4. You wrote this custom tool but get an error when using it. What is the likely problem?

def add_numbers(a, b):
    return a + b
tool = Tool(name='adder', description='Add two numbers', func=add_numbers)
result = tool.func(5)

medium

A. Tool name must be unique

B. Function add_numbers should not return a value

C. Missing one argument when calling tool.func

D. Description is too short

Solution

1. Step 1: Check function parameters

   add_numbers requires two inputs: a and b.

2. Step 2: Check how tool.func is called

   tool.func(5) provides only one argument, causing an error for missing the second argument.

3. Final Answer:

   Missing one argument when calling tool.func -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Function needs 2 args, only 1 given [OK]

Hint: Match function parameters with call arguments [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Ignoring function argument count
• Thinking description length causes error
• Assuming tool name uniqueness causes runtime error

5. You want to build a custom tool that summarizes text by returning the first 10 words. Which code correctly defines this tool's function?

hard

A. def summarize(text):
return ' '.join(text.split()[:10])

B. def summarize(text):
return text[:10]

C. def summarize(text):
return text.split()[-10:]

D. def summarize(text):
return len(text.split())

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the goal of the function

   The function should return the first 10 words, not characters or last words.

2. Step 2: Analyze each option

   def summarize(text): return ' '.join(text.split()[:10]) splits text into words and joins the first 10 words correctly. def summarize(text): return text[:10] returns first 10 characters, not words. def summarize(text): return text.split()[-10:] returns last 10 words. def summarize(text): return len(text.split()) returns word count, not summary.

3. Final Answer:

   def summarize(text): return ' '.join(text.split()[:10]) -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   First 10 words = def summarize(text): return ' '.join(text.split()[:10]) [OK]

Hint: Split text and join first 10 words for summary [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Returning characters instead of words
• Taking last words instead of first
• Returning word count instead of summary