{"id":"agent-tools","slug":"agent-tools","name":"Tool-calling production agents","shortName":"Tool-calling production agents","problemStatement":"Reliable structured tool use, parallel tools, and low schema-slip in production agents.","whenNotTopPick":"You need OpenAI Realtime/multimodal tools specifically, or a multi-provider router during migration (OpenRouter).","categoryIds":["cat-inference-apis"],"depotPickProviderId":"anthropic","depotPickRationale":"Capability + reliability + dx. Prefer first-party APIs over routers for SLA-critical tool loops.","runnersUpIds":["openai","google-ai","openrouter"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.25,"pricePerformance":0.18,"latencyReliability":0.15,"developerDx":0.15,"privacyPosture":0.1,"lockInRisk":0.07,"maturity":0.1},"methodologyNotes":"Capability + reliability + dx. Prefer first-party APIs over routers for SLA-critical tool loops.","tags":["agent"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"You need OpenAI Realtime/multimodal tools specifically, or a multi-provider router during migration (OpenRouter).","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"openai","name":"OpenAI","overallForJob":8.22,"pickOverallForJob":8.42,"beatsPickOn":["latencyReliability","developerDx","maturity"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":6.5,"runnerUpLockInRisk":7.2,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":[],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[{"id":"mcp-python-sdk","name":"MCP Python SDK","license":"MIT","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/blob/main/LICENSE"},{"id":"mcp-servers","name":"MCP reference servers","license":"MIT to Apache-2.0 transition","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers/blob/main/LICENSE"},{"id":"openapi-specification","name":"OpenAPI Specification","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/main/LICENSE"}],"migration":"The pick has lower stored lock-in risk than runner-up OpenAI (6.5 vs 7.2). Self-host fallback listed for this job: MCP Python SDK, MCP reference servers, OpenAPI Specification.","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":2,"sourcesReachable":2,"pricingRows":15,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":15,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}}}