Every test drives the real Spring AI advisor classes (ToolCallingAdvisor,
ToolSearchToolCallingAdvisor) against a hand-written ScriptedChatModel that queues
real ChatResponse objects instead of calling a live LLM -- confirmed viable because
ChatModel has exactly one abstract method, call(Prompt) (checked with javap).
Covers:
- The plain call/execute/recall loop (WeatherTools, an ordinary @Tool method)
- @Tool(returnDirect = true) skipping the second model round trip entirely
(ServerStatusTools)
- ToolContext: excluded from the model-facing JSON schema (verified against the
real generated schema), still delivered to the tool from caller-supplied data
(UserContextTools)
- A 230-tool synthetic library across six fake domains, generated via
FunctionToolCallback.builder(...) (LargeToolLibrary)
- ToolSearchToolCallingAdvisor + RegexToolIndex: one tool ("toolSearchTool")
offered on the first call instead of 230, with real tool-count and
character-footprint measurements taken off the actual outgoing prompts
Findings recorded in the module's Javadoc rather than silently worked around:
- ToolCallingAdvisor only engages when the request's Prompt carries
ToolCallingChatOptions, built from ChatModel.getOptions().mutate() (not
getDefaultOptions(), a separate default method the request-building path never
calls) -- confirmed by disassembling ToolCallingAdvisor.adviseCall and
DefaultChatClientUtils
- The Tool Search Advisor's own tool is named "toolSearchTool" (camelCase), not
"tool_search_tool" -- confirmed via @Tool(name=...) in the decompiled class
- Its session ID comes from ChatClientRequest.context() (AdvisorSpec.param), not
from ChatClient.toolContext(Map) -- confirmed by disassembling
ToolSearchToolCallingAdvisor.initializeSession
- RegexToolIndex matches on verb/noun substrings, not semantic relevance -- a
real captured search for "look up an invoice" returned 5 lookup_-named tools
across three unrelated domains alongside the one actually wanted
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01FtpJvZfg4nvLvtzgJTDWpB
4.2 KiB
tool-calling
@Tool methods, ToolCallingAdvisor (the advisor-layer replacement for Spring AI 1.x's
per-ChatModel tool-calling loop), returnDirect, ToolContext, and ToolSearchToolCallingAdvisor
for progressive disclosure across a 230-tool synthetic library -- with no live model anywhere in
the test suite. Every test drives the real advisor classes against a hand-written ScriptedChatModel
that queues real ChatResponse objects, so what gets asserted is the advisor's real behaviour, not
a description of it.
Companion code for Tool Calling in Spring AI 2.0 on ankurm.com.
Versions
| Component | Version |
|---|---|
| Spring Boot | 4.1.1 |
| Spring AI | 2.0.1 |
spring-ai-tool-search-advisor / spring-ai-tool-search-tool |
2.0.1 (separately versioned artifacts, not covered by spring-ai-bom -- see the article's "going deeper" note) |
| Java | 25 (LTS) |
Quickstart
./scripts/run-all.sh
Runs the full test suite. No API key, no network access, no Docker -- every test builds a
ChatClient around ScriptedChatModel (a queue of pre-programmed ChatResponses) instead of a
real LLM. Output lands in output/.
What's here
| File | What it does |
|---|---|
tools/WeatherTools.java |
The baseline: an ordinary @Tool method, no special attributes. |
tools/ServerStatusTools.java |
@Tool(returnDirect = true) -- the tool's own return value skips the second model round trip entirely. |
tools/UserContextTools.java |
A ToolContext-typed parameter -- excluded from the model-facing JSON schema, still delivered at call time. |
config/LargeToolLibrary.java |
Generates 230 synthetic ToolCallbacks across six fake business domains via FunctionToolCallback.builder(...), so the search-advisor section has something realistic to search. |
config/ChatClientFactory.java |
The exact ChatClient construction shared by production wiring (ChatClientConfig) and every test -- including the ToolCallingChatOptions base-options fix documented in its Javadoc, found by disassembling ToolCallingAdvisor.adviseCall. |
config/ChatClientConfig.java |
Production Spring @Bean wiring around a real (autoconfigured) ChatModel. |
support/ScriptedChatModel.java |
A hand-written ChatModel (only call(Prompt) is abstract -- confirmed with javap) that returns a queued script of responses instead of calling a real API. |
Output files
| File | What it captures |
|---|---|
output/01-plain-tool-call-round-trip.txt |
Two model calls for one tool question: the tool-call request, the tool result fed back, the final answer. |
output/02-return-direct-skips-second-round.txt |
returnDirect = true: exactly one model call, the tool's own JSON returned unparaphrased. |
output/03-tool-context-hidden-from-schema.txt |
my_account's real JSON schema (no userId property anywhere in it) next to the real answer, built from a userId the caller supplied out-of-band. |
output/04-tool-search-progressive-disclosure.txt |
Tool counts actually offered to the model, read straight off ToolCallingChatOptions.getToolCallbacks(): 1 before searching, 6 after. |
output/05-tool-description-footprint.txt |
Measured character-count comparison between the full 230-tool definition text and toolSearchTool's definition alone. |
output/06-tool-library-size.txt |
The exact size and per-domain breakdown of the synthetic library, asserted by a test rather than hand-counted. |
Requirements
Nothing beyond the JDK and Maven. spring-ai-starter-model-openai is on the classpath for the
production ChatClientConfig bean to compile and (optionally) run against a real key via
OPENAI_API_KEY, but the test suite never constructs it.