Built-in tools provided by Dhara core — read, write, edit, bash, find, grep, ask_user.

Standard Tools

Dhara ships with a set of built-in tools for common development tasks. These are always available without installing extensions.

File Operations

read

Read file contents or images:

{
  "name": "read",
  "description": "Read the contents of a file. Supports text files and images (jpg, png, gif, webp).",
  "parameters": {
    "path": "string (required) — Path to the file",
    "offset": "number (optional) — Line number to start from (1-indexed)",
    "limit": "number (optional) — Maximum lines to read"
  }
}

For text files, output is truncated to 2000 lines or 50KB. Use offset/limit for large files.

write

Create or overwrite a file:

{
  "name": "write",
  "description": "Write content to a file. Creates the file if it doesn't exist.",
  "parameters": {
    "path": "string (required) — File path",
    "content": "string (required) — File contents"
  }
}

Automatically creates parent directories.

edit

Targeted text replacement in a file:

{
  "name": "edit",
  "description": "Edit a file using exact text replacement.",
  "parameters": {
    "path": "string (required) — File path",
    "edits": [
      {
        "oldText": "string (required) — Exact text to find",
        "newText": "string (required) — Replacement text"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Each oldText must match a unique, non-overlapping region. For multiple changes in the same area, merge into one edit.

Search

grep

Search file contents for patterns:

{
  "name": "grep",
  "description": "Search file contents for a pattern using regex or literal strings.",
  "parameters": {
    "pattern": "string (required) — Search pattern (regex or literal)",
    "path": "string (optional) — Directory or file to search",
    "glob": "string (optional) — Filter by glob pattern, e.g. '*.ts'",
    "ignoreCase": "boolean (optional) — Case-insensitive search",
    "literal": "boolean (optional) — Treat as literal string instead of regex",
    "context": "number (optional) — Lines before/after each match"
  }
}

Returns matching lines with file paths and line numbers. Respects .gitignore.

find

Search for files by glob pattern:

{
  "name": "find",
  "description": "Search for files by glob pattern.",
  "parameters": {
    "pattern": "string (required) — Glob pattern, e.g. '*.ts'",
    "path": "string (optional) — Directory to search in",
    "limit": "number (optional) — Maximum results (default: 1000)"
  }
}

ls

List directory contents:

{
  "name": "ls",
  "description": "List directory contents sorted alphabetically.",
  "parameters": {
    "path": "string (optional) — Directory to list (default: current dir)",
    "limit": "number (optional) — Maximum entries (default: 500)"
  }
}

Process

bash

Execute shell commands:

{
  "name": "bash",
  "description": "Execute a command in the current working directory.",
  "parameters": {
    "command": "string (required) — Shell command to execute",
    "timeout": "number (optional) — Timeout in seconds"
  }
}

Returns stdout and stderr. Output is truncated to last 2000 lines or 50KB.

Interaction

ask_user

Ask the user a question with optional multiple-choice answers:

{
  "name": "ask_user",
  "description": "Ask the user a question interactively.",
  "parameters": {
    "question": "string (required) — The question to ask",
    "options": "array (optional) — Multiple-choice answers",
    "allowMultiple": "boolean (optional) — Allow selecting multiple options",
    "allowFreeform": "boolean (optional, default: true) — Allow freeform text answer"
  }
}

Example:

{
  "question": "Which framework should we use?",
  "options": [
    { "title": "React", "description": "Component-based UI library" },
    { "title": "Vue", "description": "Progressive JavaScript framework" },
    { "title": "Svelte", "description": "Compile-time framework" }
  ]
}

Provider-Specific Tools

openai_provider

Search and read research papers via alphaXiv:

{
  "name": "openai_provider",
  "description": "Search, read, and query research papers.",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "string (required) — search | read | query",
    "query": "string (optional) — Search query or paper ID",
    "max_results": "number (optional) — Max results (default: 5)"
  }
}

Standard Tools

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