Tool catalog
Short answer: Build Perch’s AI can call 113 built-in tools, grouped into 19 capability areas: reading and editing files, researching the web, managing your task board, generating and editing media, and running saved automations. 94 of them work with no account connection at all; the rest activate when you connect email, Discord, or Notion.
What tools does the AI have?
Every tool call shows up as an expandable row in the chat’s activity log: what ran, its arguments, and how it resolved (see How tool calls work). Tools are bundled into skills and modes so a chat only carries the ones its task needs; the model can also pull in an out-of-bundle tool mid-turn when it recognizes it needs one.
Web & external research (7): web_search (batched snippet results; can filter by page age and show published dates) · web_fetch_page (a page’s full text: web pages, PDFs, and plain-text documents; dead links fall back to an archive.org snapshot) · web_fetch_then_query (fetch a long page, then retrieve just the relevant sections) · download_file (save a PDF, Office file, image, or text file from a URL into the workspace; the content is checked against the file type, nothing executable is ever saved, existing files are never overwritten, and the file is marked as from the internet) · search_wikipedia · search_arxiv (scientific papers, with a PDF link the AI can read) · search_github (code, issues, repos)
Read & search files (5): read_file (batched) · list_directory · find_files (filename glob) · find_text (exact-text search inside files, including Office documents) · search_files (meaning-based search over local embeddings)
Edit & organize files (9): edit_file (surgical string replace) · edit_xlsx_cells · insert_xlsx_rows (styled row insertion into an existing workbook) · edit_docx_paragraphs (body, headers/footers, footnotes) · edit_pptx_text · move_file · copy_file (duplicate a file to a new path; the original stays) · delete_file (goes to the Recycle Bin) · create_directory
Power file editing (6): edit_xlsx_structure (row deletion, column insert/delete, sheet add/rename/delete, cell formatting, column widths) · edit_pptx_table (table cells plus row/column insert/delete) · duplicate_slide · delete_slide · move_slide · set_slide_notes (speaker notes). Bundled in the Writer mode; other modes pull it in on demand.
Create files, per format (11): create_text_file · create_webpage · create_svg · create_doc (Word; images can be PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP or SVG) · create_spreadsheet (Excel) · create_presentation (PowerPoint; slide images can be PNG, JPEG or SVG) · create_pdf · export_pdf (renders a Word/Excel/PowerPoint file to PDF) · trace_image (turns a raster image into an SVG) · export_png (renders an SVG, such as a saved diagram, to a PNG picture) · create_map_image (a street-map PNG with numbered pins, drawn from OpenStreetMap; no account or key needed)
Read Office documents (5): read_xlsx_sheets · read_xlsx_range · read_docx_text · read_pptx_text · read_pptx_structure
Templates (6): list_templates · fill_docx_template · fill_pptx_template · fill_xlsx_template (mustache-style {{name}} placeholders, shared syntax across all three formats) · create_doc_from_template (a new Word document from a template) · seed_starter_templates (copies the bundled starter templates into the workspace)
PDF pages (5): inspect_pdf (page count, page sizes, encryption, whether the file is digitally signed, the bookmark tree with the page each one opens, and whether form fields exist) · merge_pdfs (combines two or more PDFs into one, optionally picking pages per input) · extract_pdf_pages (copies chosen pages into a new PDF, in any order) · edit_pdf_pages (deletes, rotates, or reorders pages in place) · stamp_pdf_pages (writes one line of text, such as a submittal label, a revision, or “Page 3 of 12”, at a corner or edge of chosen pages, in place). In-place page edits keep bookmarks, links and form fields but break a digital signature, and the AI says so; combining or extracting rebuilds the file: bookmarks whose pages are kept come along, form fields only from a single whole form, and the AI lists anything dropped. All five run on your machine; password-protected PDFs are refused.
Task cards (6): add_card · read_cards · expand_card · edit_card · delete_card · search_cards
Conversation memory (3): list_recent_chats · search_chats (recall across the current chat and prior chats) · read_other_chat
Images, audio & video generation (7): image_search · attach_image_from_url · generate_image · view_image (re-loads an image already in the workspace for another look) · generate_speech · generate_music · generate_video
Media editing, local FFmpeg, on-device (10): inspect_media · analyze_media · trim_media · join_media · split_media · extract_audio · clean_audio · reframe_video · burn_captions · transcribe_media (local Whisper). All ten run entirely on your machine; nothing is uploaded.
Workspace memory (1): update_workspace_memory (writes the AI-curated, per-workspace memory file)
Location (1): get_location (IP-based, asks first)
Agents & workflows (8): create_agent · get_agents · use_agent · create_workflow · get_workflows · run_workflow · schedule_workflow · unschedule_workflow
Email (6): email_list_messages · email_search · email_get_message · email_send⚠ · email_reply⚠ · email_get_attachment
Discord (5): discord_list_guilds · discord_list_channels · discord_read_messages · discord_send_message⚠ · discord_get_attachment
Notion (8): notion_search · notion_get_page · notion_get_database · notion_query_database · notion_create_page⚠ · notion_create_database_row⚠ · notion_append_blocks⚠ · notion_update_page_properties⚠
Clarification & meta (4): ask_user_clarification (a structured multiple-choice pause) · read_skill · request_capability (pulls in a skill mid-turn) · read_buildperch_help (in-app manual lookup)
Which tools need an account connection?
94 of the 113 work with no integration connected at all. The other 19 activate only once you connect the matching account under Integrations: 6 for email, 5 for Discord, 8 for Notion. Connecting the GitHub MCP server adds its own gh_* tools on top of the 113; when a connected integration offers a richer equivalent, the matching built-in tool is suppressed so the model doesn’t see both.
Which tools can send something out of my machine?
Seven (marked ⚠ above) count as sends, actions that put something outside the app: email_send, email_reply, discord_send_message, and the four Notion writes. In chat these never auto-approve, even with auto-approval set to “All tools.” In an unattended agent or workflow run they can only reach destinations you pre-authorized when you set the automation up; anything else parks the run for your review instead of sending. See What can never auto-approve.
Good to know
- All 113 tools require a function-calling-capable model; the picker shows which models support tool use.
- A turn can run several tool rounds in sequence, by default up to 20 (raisable to 100 as an explicit setting) before the AI stops or asks again.
- Nothing here is agent-only or chat-only by nature: chat, Agents, and Workflows all draw on this same tool set; each controls which tools are allowed and how sends are approved.