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AgentsPlanning Tools

Agent Planning Tools

Help your agents tackle complex, multi-step tasks without getting lost.

What Are Planning Tools?

Planning tools give your agents the ability to map out their approach before diving into execution. Instead of figuring out what to do step-by-step in real-time (which can lead to dead ends and wasted effort), an agent with planning tools can:

  1. Create a plan — Break down the task into logical steps
  2. Get the next step — Track progress and know exactly what to do next
  3. Update the plan — Adjust the approach as new information emerges

This leads to more reliable execution, especially for complex tasks involving multiple tools and data sources.

Why Planning Matters

Without Planning

Agents working without planning tools can struggle with complex tasks:

  • Get stuck in loops, repeating the same action
  • Lose track of what’s been done
  • Forget the original goal
  • Make random tool calls hoping something works

With Planning

Agents with planning tools work systematically:

  • Have a clear roadmap before starting
  • Make progress in logical sequence
  • Track what’s completed and what’s next
  • Adapt when plans need to change

Real-world results: Agents using planning tools show significant performance gains on complex workflows, completing tasks faster and with fewer errors.

The Three Planning Tools

CreatePlan

Creates a structured plan for accomplishing a task.

What it does:

  • Analyzes the task and available tools
  • Breaks down the work into discrete steps
  • Identifies dependencies between steps
  • Estimates effort or complexity

When the agent uses it:

  • At the start of a complex task
  • When the request involves multiple steps
  • When the agent needs to coordinate multiple tools

Example output:

{
  "plan_id": "plan_abc123",
  "task": "Research competitor pricing and create comparison report",
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "description": "Search web for current pricing of top five competitors",
      "tools": ["web_search"],
      "status": "pending"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "description": "Scrape pricing pages for detailed feature comparison",
      "tools": ["web_scrape"],
      "status": "pending"
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "description": "Format data into comparison table",
      "tools": [],
      "status": "pending"
    },
    {
      "id": 4,
      "description": "Generate summary report with insights",
      "tools": [],
      "status": "pending"
    }
  ]
}

GetNextStep

Retrieves the next action the agent should take.

What it does:

  • Returns the current step to work on
  • Provides context from previous steps
  • Updates step status to “in progress”
  • Helps the agent stay on track

When the agent uses it:

  • After completing a step, to get the next one
  • When uncertain about what to do next
  • To verify progress against the plan

Example usage:

After completing step 1 (web search), the agent calls GetNextStep and receives:

{
  "step_id": 2,
  "description": "Scrape pricing pages for detailed feature comparison",
  "tools": ["web_scrape"],
  "status": "ready",
  "context": {
    "previous_step": "Found pricing pages for four of five competitors",
    "urls_to_scrape": ["https://...", "https://..."]
  }
}

UpdatePlan

Modifies the plan based on new information or changing requirements.

What it does:

  • Adds, removes or reorders steps
  • Updates step descriptions or status
  • Marks steps as complete or skipped
  • Handles unexpected discoveries or blockers

When the agent uses it:

  • When a step doesn’t work as expected
  • When new information changes the approach
  • When the user provides additional requirements mid-task
  • When dependencies shift

Example scenarios:

  1. Adding a step: Web search reveals a sixth competitor that should be included
{
  "action": "add_step",
  "after_step": 2,
  "step": {
    "description": "Research pricing for newly discovered competitor X",
    "tools": ["web_search", "web_scrape"]
  }
}
  1. Marking complete: Step 2 finished successfully
{
  "action": "complete_step",
  "step_id": 2,
  "result": "Successfully scraped pricing from all five competitors"
}
  1. Skipping a step: One competitor’s pricing is unavailable
{
  "action": "skip_step",
  "step_id": 2,
  "reason": "Competitor B's pricing page requires login, cannot access"
}

How to Enable Planning Tools

Planning tools are available in your agent’s tool configuration.

  1. Click on the Add tool button.
  2. Scroll the panel to the right to select the planning tools.
  3. Once added, update your agent’s instructions so it knows it has planning tools available.

The planning tools include:

  • CreatePlan — Let the agent create execution plans
  • GetNextStep — Let the agent track progress through plans
  • UpdatePlan — Let the agent adjust plans as needed

Updating Instructions (Optional)

You can guide how your agent uses planning in its instructions:

For complex tasks involving more than three steps, always start by creating a plan.
Break the task into logical phases, update the plan when you learn new information
and check your progress with GetNextStep between major actions.

When to Use Planning Tools

Good Use Cases

Multi-step research tasks

  • “Find all companies that raised Series A in our space and compile a competitive analysis”
  • Planning helps sequence: search → scrape → analyze → format

Data gathering and synthesis

  • “Pull data from Salesforce, HubSpot and our internal database, then create a unified report”
  • Planning helps coordinate multiple data sources

Open-ended problem solving

  • “Figure out why our conversion rate dropped last month”
  • Planning helps structure investigation and track hypotheses

Tasks with dependencies

  • “Onboard a new customer by setting up their account, configuring integrations and sending a welcome email”
  • Planning ensures each step completes before the next begins

When Planning Isn’t Needed

Simple, single-step tasks

  • “What’s the weather in San Francisco?”
  • Planning adds overhead without benefit

Well-defined workflows

  • Tasks that always follow the same steps
  • Planning might be redundant if the path is fixed

Quick questions or lookups

  • “Find John’s email in our CRM”
  • Direct execution is faster

Example: Complex Task with Planning

Let’s trace through how an agent handles a complex request.

User request: “Identify our top 10 leads that have gone cold and create personalized re-engagement emails for each.”

Without Planning Tools

The agent might:

  1. Search for cold leads âś“
  2. Start drafting emails…
  3. Get interrupted to find more lead info…
  4. Lose track of which leads have emails…
  5. Maybe complete the task, maybe not

With Planning Tools

Step 1: CreatePlan

Agent creates a structured approach:

  1. Query CRM for leads with no activity in 90+ days
  2. Sort by deal value and prioritize top 10
  3. For each lead, gather context (past conversations, interests)
  4. Draft personalized email for each lead
  5. Save drafts for review
  6. Create summary of re-engagement strategy

Step 2: Execute with GetNextStep

Agent executes systematically:

  • Completes step 1, marks done, gets step 2
  • Completes step 2, marks done, gets step 3
  • For each lead:
    • Gather context (step 3)
    • Draft email (step 4)
    • Save draft (step 5)
    • GetNextStep to continue

Step 3: UpdatePlan as needed

If the agent discovers that three leads have already been contacted, it updates the plan to skip those and find three more cold leads instead.

Result: All 10 emails completed, properly personalized, saved for review, with a summary of strategy.

Best Practices

Let the Agent Plan

Don’t force planning for simple tasks. Trust the agent to recognize when planning is helpful. Your instruction can guide this:

Use planning tools for complex, multi-step tasks. For simple questions or single 
actions, proceed directly without creating a plan.

Be Clear About Goals

Clear instructions help the agent create better plans:

When creating a plan, think through:
1. What information do I need to gather?
2. What order makes the most sense?
3. What might I discover that changes the approach?

Allow Plan Flexibility

Plans are guides, not scripts. Let the agent adapt:

Plans should be flexible. If new information suggests a better approach, update 
the plan rather than forcing the original path.

Check Progress

You can instruct your agent to report progress at key checkpoints:

After completing each major phase, briefly note what was accomplished before 
moving to the next step.

Common Questions

Do all agents need planning tools?

No. Planning tools are most valuable for agents that handle complex, multi-step tasks. Simple agents that answer questions or perform single actions don’t need them.

Will planning slow down my agent?

Planning adds a small overhead at the start of complex tasks but typically results in faster overall completion because the agent wastes less time on unproductive paths.

Can I see the plan my agent created?

Yes. Check the Logs tab to see when CreatePlan was called and what plan was generated. You can also see UpdatePlan calls showing how the plan evolved.

What if the agent creates a bad plan?

The plan is a starting point, not final. If the agent realizes a step isn’t working, it uses UpdatePlan to adjust. You can also refine your instructions to help the agent plan better.

Can I force the agent to use planning?

Add to your instructions:

Always create a plan using CreatePlan before beginning any task. Do not proceed 
until a plan is in place.

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