BIThub AI Tools Reference
Tools extend what BIThub’s AI assistants can do.
A tool is a callable capability. It can search forum content, read a topic, fetch live data, inspect settings, transform text, generate structured development artifacts, or retrieve external information.
Users do not manually run tools like commands. Tools are made available to specific AI agents. Each agent can only use the tools assigned to it.
This page documents the tools currently available in BIThub.
What tools are
In Discourse AI, tools are programmable functions that allow the AI bot to perform specific tasks or retrieve information beyond normal text responses.
They may:
- search BIThub content
- read forum posts
- retrieve external data
- call APIs
- inspect settings
- transform text
- produce structured templates
- help generate software, infrastructure, or planning artifacts
Tools are not MCP servers in this setup.
At the moment, the listed capabilities below are tools, not MCP integrations.
Related Discourse AI references
Built-in forum tools
These tools are part of the Discourse AI tool system.
categories
What it is:
A forum navigation tool.
What it does:
Retrieves the public categories visible to the current user.
What it is for:
Finding where content belongs inside the forum.
Utility:
Useful when a user asks where to post something, what sections exist, or how the forum is organized.
time
What it is:
A time lookup tool.
What it does:
Returns the current time in UTC or a specified timezone.
What it is for:
Handling time-sensitive questions.
Utility:
Useful for timezone clarification, date-sensitive answers, scheduling context, and current-time checks.
search
What it is:
A local forum search tool.
What it does:
Searches BIThub topics and posts.
What it is for:
Finding existing forum discussions, references, posts, and previously written material.
Utility:
Useful when a user asks whether something already exists on BIThub or wants to retrieve earlier forum knowledge.
read
What it is:
A forum post reading tool.
What it does:
Reads the full content of a specific post when the topic ID and post number are known.
What it is for:
Inspecting exact topic or post content.
Utility:
Useful for summarizing, quoting, revising, or analyzing a specific BIThub post.
schema
What it is:
A database schema inspection tool.
What it does:
Fetches structural information about a Discourse database table.
What it is for:
Understanding Discourse database structure.
Utility:
Useful for development, admin, data, and SQL-related work where table fields and relationships matter.
search_settings
What it is:
A Discourse settings discovery tool.
What it does:
Searches for admin settings by name or behavior.
What it is for:
Finding relevant Discourse configuration options.
Utility:
Useful when an admin needs to locate a setting without already knowing the exact setting name.
setting_context
What it is:
A Discourse setting source-context tool.
What it does:
Shows implementation context for a known setting.
What it is for:
Understanding what a setting actually affects.
Utility:
Useful when a setting name is known but its behavior, dependencies, or side effects need clarification.
random_picker
What it is:
A random selection tool.
What it does:
Selects randomly from a provided list.
What it is for:
Unbiased choice.
Utility:
Useful for picking between options without preference, ranking, or judgment.
search_meta_discourse
What it is:
A Discourse Meta search tool.
What it does:
Searches Meta Discourse for official Discourse documentation, support discussions, and implementation guidance.
What it is for:
Researching Discourse software behavior.
Utility:
Useful for questions about Discourse AI, plugins, settings, admin behavior, and official support references.
web_browser
What it is:
A web page retrieval tool.
What it does:
Fetches live content from a URL.
What it is for:
Reading web pages provided by the user or discovered during research.
Utility:
Useful when the AI needs to inspect a specific page rather than rely on memory.
researcher
What it is:
A multi-step research tool.
What it does:
Combines web search, source inspection, and summarization.
What it is for:
Broad or current external research.
Utility:
Useful when a question needs multiple sources, current facts, or wider investigation outside BIThub.
tags
What it is:
A forum tag discovery tool.
What it does:
Lists top tags available on the forum.
What it is for:
Understanding BIThub’s tag structure.
Utility:
Useful for topic classification, content organization, and finding common labels used across forum posts.
Custom tools
These are the current custom tools configured in BIThub.
How BIThub approaches tools
BIThub tools are not random plugins.
They are added when they extend the intelligence system in a clear, reusable way. A good tool should encode a useful capability, workflow, pattern, or external service that agents can reliably use across many tasks.
Our tool layer is built from several sources:
- Established patterns — proven workflows, development methods, research processes, and operational practices.
- Open-source projects — useful repositories, frameworks, templates, and reference implementations adapted into BIThub’s tool system.
- External APIs — trusted services that provide live data or specialized capabilities.
- Internal skills — recurring BIThub workflows that are useful enough to become reusable tools.
- Operator needs — practical capabilities requested by users, moderators, builders, researchers, and admins.
A tool should usually do one clear thing well.
It should not be a vague general-purpose assistant. It should expose a defined capability that an agent can use when appropriate.
Requesting new tools or MCP servers
New tools and MCP servers can be proposed through an RFC or BIP.
A good tool request should include:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Proposed tool or MCP name |
| Type | Tool, MCP server, API integration, workflow tool, research tool, admin tool, or development tool |
| Purpose | What capability it adds |
| Utility | Why BIThub users or agents need it |
| Inputs | What information the tool needs |
| Outputs | What the tool should return |
| References | GitHub repo, documentation, API docs, paper, guide, or prior art |
| Access level | Who should be allowed to use it |
| Risks | Security, privacy, cost, hallucination, abuse, or reliability concerns |
Requests should focus on reusable capabilities, not one-off tasks.
If a workflow is used repeatedly, depends on external data, follows a known method, or needs structured execution, it may deserve to become a tool.
Current tools
BMAD_Method
What it is:
A structured AI-native agile development framework tool.
What it does:
Helps organize product and software work through specialized planning roles such as analyst, product manager, architect, developer, QA, UX designer, and scrum master.
What it is for:
Turning a rough idea into a structured development path.
Utility:
Useful for agile planning, role-based review, product clarification, development sequencing, and collaborative multi-perspective planning.
Relevant reference:
CoinGecko
What it is:
A cryptocurrency market data tool.
What it does:
Fetches current price and optional market data for cryptocurrencies using CoinGecko IDs.
What it is for:
Current crypto price lookup.
Utility:
Useful for checking live token price, market cap, 24-hour volume, and 24-hour price change.
Relevant reference:
genai_spec
What it is:
A generative AI application scaffolding tool.
What it does:
Generates templates and project structures for building generative AI applications.
What it is for:
Starting structured AI software projects.
Utility:
Useful for LLM app scaffolds, prompt utilities, provider clients, modular project layouts, and maintainable GenAI codebases.
Relevant reference:
http_fetch
What it is:
A basic HTTP retrieval tool.
What it does:
Fetches content from a URL.
What it is for:
Retrieving external web-accessible data.
Utility:
Useful when a tool needs to inspect a direct URL or API-accessible resource.
IaC_Planner
What it is:
An Infrastructure as Code planning tool.
What it does:
Turns cloud-agnostic infrastructure requirements into provider-specific Terraform-oriented plans.
What it is for:
Cloud infrastructure design.
Utility:
Useful for planning infrastructure across AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, Kubernetes, networking, IAM, storage, databases, monitoring, queues, caching, and secrets.
Relevant reference:
Leet Speak Transformer
What it is:
A text transformation tool.
What it does:
Transforms normal text into leet-speak or stylized variants.
What it is for:
Stylized text conversion.
Utility:
Useful for generating classic, modern, ultra, glyph, cursed, damned, or other leet-style text outputs.
OpenSpec
What it is:
A spec-driven development tool.
What it does:
Creates and organizes software change artifacts such as proposals, behavioral specs, designs, task lists, alternative explorations, and archives.
What it is for:
Structured software change management.
Utility:
Useful for turning software ideas into traceable specs, designs, and implementation tasks.
Relevant reference:
Proof-Kit
What it is:
An evidence-driven development tool.
What it does:
Creates testable requirements, proof artifacts, coverage matrices, and verification checkpoints.
What it is for:
Building with explicit proof before progress.
Utility:
Useful when correctness, acceptance criteria, traceability, and evidence matter.
Related references:
Spec_Kit
What it is:
A structured software development template tool.
What it does:
Returns templates for specs, plans, tasks, or the full spec → plan → tasks workflow.
What it is for:
Starting a software project or feature with clean development artifacts.
Utility:
Useful for user stories, requirements, success criteria, architecture planning, project structure, and task breakdowns.
Relevant reference:
Task Forge
What it is:
A dependency-aware task decomposition tool.
What it does:
Breaks features or projects into work packages, dependencies, critical paths, parallelization opportunities, role assignments, and kanban-style status.
What it is for:
Project execution planning.
Utility:
Useful for converting a goal into organized work units that can be tracked and executed.
Related references:
This tool appears to be converged from multiple workflow patterns rather than a single direct upstream repository. Relevant nearby references include:
Thinking Note
What it is:
A scratchpad tool.
What it does:
Captures constraints, missing information, and the next step before answering.
What it is for:
Brief reasoning organization.
Utility:
Useful when the AI needs to structure a task before responding.
Important:
This tool does not fetch data, modify anything, or perform external actions.
Tool index
| Tool | Type | Main utility |
|---|---|---|
categories |
Forum navigation | Find visible forum categories |
time |
Time lookup | Get current time or timezone context |
search |
Forum search | Find BIThub topics and posts |
read |
Forum reading | Read a known topic/post |
schema |
Admin/dev database tool | Inspect Discourse table structure |
search_settings |
Admin settings tool | Find relevant Discourse settings |
setting_context |
Admin/source-context tool | Understand setting behavior |
random_picker |
Randomization | Pick randomly from a list |
search_meta_discourse |
Discourse research | Search official Meta Discourse references |
web_browser |
Web retrieval | Inspect a specific URL |
researcher |
External research | Multi-source research and summary |
tags |
Forum organization | List forum tags |
BMAD_Method |
Agile planning | Role-based development planning |
CoinGecko |
Crypto data | Fetch current crypto market data |
genai_spec |
GenAI scaffolding | Generate AI app project templates |
http_fetch |
HTTP retrieval | Fetch URL/API content |
IaC_Planner |
Infrastructure planning | Produce cloud/IaC plans |
Leet Speak Transformer |
Text transformation | Convert text into leet variants |
OpenSpec |
Spec-driven development | Create proposals/specs/designs/tasks |
Proof-Kit |
Evidence-driven development | Create proof-backed requirements and verification artifacts |
Spec_Kit |
Development templates | Generate spec/plan/task templates |
Task Forge |
Task decomposition | Break projects into executable work packages |
Thinking Note |
Scratchpad | Capture constraints and next step |
Reference sources
Official Discourse references
- Discourse AI — AI Bot
- AI Bot — Custom Tools
- AI Bot — Agents
- discourse/discourse — main source repository
- discourse/discourse/plugins/discourse-ai — active Discourse AI source
- discourse/discourse-ai — archived historical Discourse AI repository