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Overview
The Universal Tool Calling Protocol (UTCP) is a modern, flexible, and scalable standard for defining and interacting with tools across a wide variety of communication protocols. It is designed to be easy to use, interoperable, and extensible, making it a powerful choice for building and consuming tool-based services.
Key Features
UTCP focuses on three core principles:
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Scalability: UTCP is designed to handle a large number of tools and providers without compromising performance.
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Interoperability: With support for a wide range of provider types (including HTTP, WebSockets, gRPC, and even CLI tools), UTCP can integrate with almost any existing service or infrastructure.
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Ease of Use: The protocol is built on simple, well-defined data models, making it easy for developers to implement and use.
Philosophy
UTCP is designed with a simple philosophy: a tool-calling protocol should be a descriptive manual, not a prescriptive middleman. A UTCP definition simply tells an agent: “Here is a tool. Here is its native endpoint (HTTP, gRPC, CLI, etc.), and here is how to call it directly.”
The protocol gets out of the way after discovery, allowing the agent to communicate directly with the tool, which eliminates many common problems:
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No Wrapper Tax: Just write a simple JSON definition pointing to your existing REST API, gRPC service, or CLI command. No new server needed.
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Leverage Existing Infrastructure: Authentication, permissions, and billing are handled by the tool’s native endpoint, as they should be. No re-implementation required.
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Efficient & Direct: The agent calls the tool directly. This means lower latency, less overhead, and access to the tool’s native, structured data.
Quick Start
To get started with UTCP:
- Introduction - Learn about the basic concepts and components
- Provider Types - Explore the various provider types supported by UTCP
- Implementation Guide - Start implementing UTCP in your applications
