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Agent with File System Tools

Overview

Agents can be equipped with file system capabilities to read, write, search, and edit files within a specified working directory. This enables code analysis, documentation generation, refactoring assistance, and other file-based operations. The agent determines which file operations to perform based on the task.

Key concepts: - UseFileTools: Capability that adds file system tools to the agent - Working directory: Root path for all file operations (security boundary) - Available tools: read_file, write_file, edit_file, list_dir, search_files - AgentConsoleLogger: Provides visibility into agent execution stages

Example

<?php
require 'examples/boot.php';

use Cognesy\Agents\AgentBuilder\AgentBuilder;
use Cognesy\Agents\AgentBuilder\Capabilities\File\UseFileTools;
use Cognesy\Agents\Core\Data\AgentState;
use Cognesy\Agents\Events\AgentConsoleLogger;
use Cognesy\Messages\Messages;

// Create console logger for execution visibility
$logger = new AgentConsoleLogger(
    useColors: true,
    showTimestamps: true,
    showContinuation: true,
    showToolArgs: true,
);

// Configure working directory (security boundary)
$workDir = dirname(__DIR__, 3);  // Project root

// Build agent with file system capabilities
$agent = AgentBuilder::base()
    ->withCapability(new UseFileTools($workDir))
    ->build()
    ->wiretap($logger->wiretap());

// Create task that requires file access
$task = <<<TASK
Read the composer.json file and tell me:
1. What is the project name?
2. What PHP version is required?
3. List the first 5 dependencies (require section only).
Be concise.
TASK;

// Execute with initial state
$state = AgentState::empty()->withMessages(
    Messages::fromString($task)
);

echo "=== Agent Execution Log ===\n\n";

// Execute agent until completion
$finalState = $agent->execute($state);

echo "\n=== Result ===\n";
$response = $finalState->finalResponse()->toString() ?: 'No response';
echo "Answer: {$response}\n";
echo "Steps: {$finalState->stepCount()}\n";
echo "Tokens: {$finalState->usage()->total()}\n";
echo "Status: {$finalState->status()->value}\n";
?>