Progressive Tool Discovery

VerifiedSafe

Discovers and uses capabilities progressively to reduce token overhead and context pollution. Delegates tasks to specialized agents when needed.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
Data & AIIntermediate
7/26/2026
Claude Code
#token-efficiency#tool-discovery#agent-orchestration#mcp#context-management

Recommended for

Automated summary

This skill describes a progressive discovery pattern: the agent identifies the needed capability, checks which connected tools or specialized agents can provide it, then executes with only the minimal context required.

Strengths

  • Substantially reduces token overhead by avoiding loading every tool definition up front
  • Provides an explicit decision flow (identify → check → use or delegate → return)
  • Ships a mapping table linking specialized agents to the situations where they should be delegated to
  • Grounds the pattern in concrete worked examples (battery check, compound interest, sharing a location)

Limitations

  • Assumes the runtime actually exposes delegate_to_ai_agent, check_delegated_tasks, and the listed specialized agents
  • Is a behavioral guideline rather than an executable tool; it changes how the host agent reasons
  • The document is cut off mid-example and does not describe how to handle failed delegations
When to use it

Use it when an agent has many tools or sub-agents attached and would otherwise flood its context by loading all of them.

When not to use it

Skip it when only a handful of simple tools are available, since the discovery step adds latency without meaningful savings.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score82/100

The skill contains only instructional guidance for progressively discovering and delegating to available tools/agents. It does not instruct destructive commands, secret exfiltration, obfuscated payloads, or safety-disabling behavior. Declared tools are limited to delegation and task checking, which are legitimate.

No concerns found

How this analysis is made

Examples

Device capability
Check my phone's battery level and tell me whether I need to charge before I leave for the airport.
Delegated computation
Calculate the compound interest on $10,000 at 5% over 10 years and show the yearly breakdown.
Multi-capability request
Get my current location and send it to John on WhatsApp.

name: progressive-discovery-skill description: Discover and load tools progressively as needed (reduces token overhead) allowed-tools: delegate_to_ai_agent check_delegated_tasks metadata: author: opencompany version: "1.0" category: autonomous icon: "🔍" color: "#F59E0B"


Progressive Tool Discovery

You are an agent that discovers and uses capabilities progressively as needed, rather than loading everything upfront.

Why Progressive Discovery?

Loading all tools at start creates:

  • Token overhead: 150,000+ tokens for tool definitions
  • Context pollution: Irrelevant tools confuse the LLM
  • Slower responses: More tokens = more processing time

Progressive discovery provides:

  • 98.7% token savings (Anthropic MCP research)
  • Focused context: Only relevant tools loaded
  • Better decisions: Less noise, clearer choices

Discovery Pattern

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERY                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                              │
│   1. START with minimal context                             │
│         │                                                   │
│         ▼                                                   │
│   2. IDENTIFY what capability is needed                     │
│         │                                                   │
│         ▼                                                   │
│   3. CHECK what tools/agents are connected                  │
│         │                                                   │
│         ├──▶ Tool exists? ──▶ USE it directly              │
│         │                                                   │
│         └──▶ Specialized agent exists? ──▶ DELEGATE to it  │
│                                                              │
│   4. EXECUTE with focused context                           │
│         │                                                   │
│         ▼                                                   │
│   5. RETURN result (don't load more than needed)           │
│                                                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Available Specialized Agents

Check your connected tools - you may have access to these specialized agents:

| Agent | Capabilities | When to Delegate | |-------|--------------|------------------| | android_agent | Device control, apps, sensors | Android device tasks | | coding_agent | Python/JavaScript execution | Code computation | | web_agent | Web scraping, HTTP requests | Internet data | | task_agent | Scheduling, timers, cron | Time-based tasks | | social_agent | WhatsApp, messaging | Communication | | travel_agent | Maps, locations, directions | Travel planning |

Discovery Examples

Example 1: User asks "What's the battery level?"

Without Progressive Discovery (wasteful):

Load ALL tools (calculator, web_search, whatsapp, android, maps, code, ...)
Parse user request
Find that android tool is needed
Execute battery check

With Progressive Discovery (efficient):

1. IDENTIFY: This needs Android device access
2. CHECK: Is android_agent or battery tool connected?
3. YES → Delegate: "Check battery level"
4. RETURN: Battery at 75%, charging

Example 2: User asks "Calculate compound interest for $10,000 at 5% for 10 years"

Discovery Process:

1. IDENTIFY: This is a mathematical calculation
2. CHECK: Do I have python_code or calculator tool?

   IF python_code connected:
      Use Code Mode for complex calculation

   ELIF calculator connected:
      Use calculator for simple operations

   ELSE:
      Report: "I need a code executor or calculator to compute this"

Example 3: User asks "Send my location to John on WhatsApp"

Discovery Process:

1. IDENTIFY: Needs location + messaging
2. CHECK: What's connected?

   Step A - Get location:
   IF location tool connected → Use directly
   ELIF android_agent connected → Delegate location request
   ELSE → Ask user for location

   Step B - Send message:
   IF whatsapp_send connected → Use directly
   ELIF social_agent connected → Delegate message
   ELSE → Report: "WhatsApp not available"

Delegation Pattern

When delegating to a specialized agent:

{
  "task": "Specific task description",
  "context": "Relevant context only (not everything)"
}

Good Context (focused):

{
  "task": "Get current GPS coordinates",
  "context": "User needs their location for a WhatsApp message"
}

Bad Context (bloated):

{
  "task": "Get current GPS coordinates",
  "context": "Full conversation history... user preferences... all previous results... system info..."
}

Capability Check Pattern

Before attempting an action, verify the capability exists:

IF task requires capability X:

    IF direct_tool_for_X is connected:
        → Use tool directly (fastest)

    ELIF specialized_agent_for_X is connected:
        → Delegate to agent (handles complexity)

    ELSE:
        → Report: "This capability is not available"
        → Suggest: "Connect [tool/agent name] to enable this"

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

1. Loading Everything Upfront

❌ "Let me check all my tools: calculator, web_search, whatsapp,
    android, maps, code, http, scheduler, memory..."

✓ "To answer this, I need [specific capability]"

2. Delegating Without Checking

❌ Immediately delegate to android_agent without checking if connected

✓ Check connected tools first, then delegate if available

3. Over-Explaining Capabilities

❌ "I have access to many tools including... [lists everything]"

✓ "I can help with that. Let me [specific action]."

4. Redundant Delegation

❌ Delegate "calculate 2+2" to coding_agent

✓ Simple math can be done directly or with calculator tool

Integration with Agentic Loop

Progressive Discovery works with the Agentic Loop pattern:

OBSERVE: What does the user need?
    ↓
THINK: What capability is required?
    ↓
DISCOVER: Is that capability connected?
    ↓
ACT: Use tool directly OR delegate to agent
    ↓
REFLECT: Did it work?
    ↓
DECIDE: Complete or discover next capability

Best Practices

  1. Start minimal - Don't enumerate all tools at the start
  2. Discover on demand - Only check for capabilities when needed
  3. Prefer direct tools - Use connected tools before delegating
  4. Focused delegation - Pass only relevant context to agents
  5. Report gaps clearly - If capability missing, say what's needed

From the file to a first result

The download contains exactly the content displayed on this page. This copy may differ from the latest version in the source repository.

View the source and supporting files

This download contains SKILL.md only. Any scripts, references, templates and dependencies are not included. Get the required files from the source, preserving their directory structure, before continuing.

1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

From the root of a test project, save the file as .skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/SKILL.md, or use the command below. This folder is for inspecting the skill before installation.

Command for macOS/Linux or WSL: requires a POSIX shell and curl. On Windows without WSL, use the download button and create the folder manually.

mkdir -p '.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6' && curl --fail --show-error --location 'https://skills-guides.com/api/skills/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/download' --output '.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/SKILL.md.part' && mv '.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/SKILL.md.part' '.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/SKILL.md'

2. Check prerequisites

Read SKILL.md before using it. If it references scripts or external services, inspect them and prepare the required access in your test environment.

Tools declared by the author (check availability in your agent): delegate_to_ai_agent check_delegated_tasks

No recognized prerequisites section in this file. This does not mean it is self-contained: libraries, tools and access requirements may be mentioned elsewhere in the content or source repository.

The platforms on this page are catalog indications. The paths below follow tool documentation; they do not prove this skill has been run in those tools. No minimum tool version is confirmed for this listing.

3. Load the skill

After inspection, copy the complete folder into your project using one of the commands below, then open a new tool session. The command stops if a folder with the same name already exists: compare the files before replacing it.

Claude Code
test -f '.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.claude/skills' && test ! -e '.claude/skills/progressive-discovery-skill' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6' '.claude/skills/progressive-discovery-skill'

OpenSkills

OpenSkills must already be installed. The local install/read procedure is checked with OpenSkills 1.5.0, which requires Node.js ≥ 20.6.0. Catalog slugs are not resolved automatically.

Official OpenSkills installation
openskills install './.skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6'

openskills read 'progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6'

Reading should display the installed file content and its base directory. It does not run the skill or install its dependencies.

For an agent that reads AGENTS.md, then sync the index. This command changes AGENTS.md: review the diff before using it.

openskills sync

Manual method or another tool: attach SKILL.md to a conversation, or open it in an agent that can read files. Include any required supporting resources. No universal folder is recognized by every tool.

4. Try a first task

Use a short, synthetic input: an API endpoint, a small document or an interface brief. In a new conversation, attach the file or give the agent its path, then adapt this request:

Read .skill-downloads/progressive-tool-discovery-ms1aw4j6/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

Expected result: output matching the skill instructions, or a precise list of missing prerequisites. A read confirmation alone does not validate a first use. If an external resource is unavailable, that path remains untested.

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