Load a workflow as a tool

Turn a kind: Workflow file into an LLM-callable tool in agent mode. You type a prompt; the model decides when to call the workflow; kdeps runs the full DAG and returns the result.

Applies to agent mode - the interactive LLM chat REPL.

Overview

This tutorial is for developers who have:

• Run the agent REPL
• Built the quickstart HTTP API (or any workflow.yaml)

By the end you will load that workflow as a tool named after metadata.name, call it from a prompt, and see the DAG run as one tool invocation.

Before you start

• kdeps installed (kdeps --version)
• A workflow directory with workflow.yaml and a metadata.name (the quickstart project my-agent is enough)

No extra install. The same local llamafile from the REPL is used.

How it works

you type a prompt
        |
        v
LLM calls tool "my-agent"
        |
        v
kdeps runs the full workflow DAG

The LLM never sees the resource YAML. It sees one tool, named metadata.name, and the tool's output (apiResponse.response).

Step 1: confirm the tool name

Open workflow.yaml and read metadata.name. That string is the tool name. In the quickstart it is my-agent:

# workflow.yaml
apiVersion: kdeps.io/v1
kind: Workflow

metadata:
  name: my-agent          # tool name in agent mode
  version: "1.0.0"
  targetActionId: response

There is no kind: Agent. Agent mode is how you run a workflow, not a separate YAML kind.

Step 2: start the REPL with the workflow

From the project directory:

kdeps .

Or pass the path:

kdeps ./my-agent/

The REPL starts. The model can call one workflow tool (my-agent) plus the built-in tools (search, shell, files, memory). It does not register individual resources as tools.

Step 3: ask something the workflow can answer

Type a prompt that needs the workflow. For the quickstart chat API:

> Summarize entropy in one sentence using my-agent

The model calls my-agent. kdeps runs every resource in requires: order and returns apiResponse.response to the model. The model then answers you.

A folder of workflows registers one tool per workflow.yaml (and per agency):

kdeps ./agents/

Summary

• kdeps [path] is agent mode. kdeps run workflow.yaml is workflow mode. Same file.
• The tool name is metadata.name, not the filename.
• The unit of work is the whole workflow, not a single resource.

Next steps

• Agent mode - flags, folder discovery, how tools run
• Built-in tools - what the REPL can do with no YAML
• Skills and prompt templates - markdown that shapes the REPL
• Quickstart - the HTTP API for the same file