Flow Tools

Why this matters

Real agent work requires composable multi-step pipelines. Flow treats workflows as first-class values — named skills and inline plan arrays can be passed as parameters to other tool calls, enabling higher-order composition. Steps reference outputs from previous steps via $variable syntax, branches execute conditionally, and human approval gates pause execution for sensitive operations. Once a workflow is verified, save it as a skill — a reusable tool that any agent on your server can call by name without re-planning.

Four tools

• ✓flow.into — Execute a named skill or an inline plan array (JSON steps with $variable references). Supports CTC validation, parallel branches, and optional skill saving
• ✓flow.route — Conditional dispatch with predicate matching — branch to any tool or inline $compute plan based on runtime values
• ✓flow.request-approval — Pause for human approval before sensitive operations
• ✓flow.request-feedback — Ask the user for missing data mid-workflow

Higher-Order Composition

Flow is higher-order: named skills and unnamed inline plans are interchangeable. Pass a skill name as a string parameter or embed a plan array directly in the tool call arguments. Steps within a plan reference earlier outputs via $variable syntax. flow.route branches can contain inline $compute plans that execute conditionally — functions passed as arguments to other functions, just like functional programming.

When flow.into executes a workflow successfully, it can be saved as a skill with its CTC — a cryptographic verification that the plan was validated for type safety, cost bounds, and policy compliance. Skills appear as regular tools that any agent on your server can call — no re-planning, no re-verification. Each execution is auditable by CTC ID through inspect.ctc-executions.

Example: conditional routing

{
  "name": "data-grout@1/flow.route@1",
  "arguments": {
    "cache_ref": "rc_lead_data",
    "branches": [
      { "when": "$is_enterprise", "then": "my-skill/enterprise-onboarding" },
      { "when": "_", "then": "my-skill/standard-onboarding" }
    ]
  }
}