use_tools: accept a variadic list of Tool (#374)

Co-authored-by: aisi-inspect <[email protected]>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 - [score()](https://inspect.ai-safety-institute.org.uk/solvers.html#sec-scoring-in-solvers) function for accessing scoring logic from within solvers.
 - `system_message()` now supports custom parameters and interpolation of `metadata` values from `Sample`.
 - `generate()` solver now accepts arbitrary generation config params.
+- `use_tools()` now accepts a variadic list of `Tool` in addition to literal `list[Tool]`.
 - `bash()` and `python()` tools now have a `user` parameter for choosing an alternate user to run code as.
 - Input event for recording screen input in sample transcripts.
 - Record to sample function for CSV and JSON dataset readers can now return multiple samples.

src/inspect_ai/solver/_use_tools.py

@@ -6,15 +6,15 @@
 
 @solver
 def use_tools(
-    tools: Tool | list[Tool] | None = None, tool_choice: ToolChoice | None = "auto"
+    *tools: Tool | list[Tool], tool_choice: ToolChoice | None = "auto"
 ) -> Solver:
     """
     Inject tools into the task state to be used in generate().
 
     Args:
-        tools (Tool | list[Tool] | None): One or more tools to make available
-          to the model. If `None` is passed, then no change to the currently
-          available set of `tools` is made.
+        *tools (Tool | list[Tool]): One or more tools or lists of tools
+          to make available to the model. If no tools are passed, then
+          no change to the currently available set of `tools` is made.
         tool_choice (ToolChoice | None): Directive indicating which
           tools the model should use. If `None` is passed, then no
           change to `tool_choice` is made.
@@ -24,9 +24,15 @@ def use_tools(
     """
 
     async def solve(state: TaskState, generate: Generate) -> TaskState:
-        # set tools if specified
-        if tools is not None:
-            state.tools = tools if isinstance(tools, list) else [tools]
+        # build up tools
+        tools_update: list[Tool] = []
+        for tool in tools:
+            if isinstance(tool, list):
+                tools_update.extend(tool)
+            else:
+                tools_update.append(tool)
+        if len(tools_update) > 0:
+            state.tools = tools_update
 
         # set tool choice if specified
         if tool_choice is not None:

tests/tools/test_use_tools.py

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+from typing import Literal
+
+import pytest
+from test_helpers.tools import addition, read_file
+from test_helpers.utils import simple_task_state
+from typing_extensions import Unpack
+
+from inspect_ai.model import CachePolicy, GenerateConfigArgs
+from inspect_ai.solver import TaskState, use_tools
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_use_tools():
+    def generate(
+        state: TaskState,
+        tool_calls: Literal["loop", "single", "none"] = "loop",
+        cache: bool | CachePolicy = False,
+        **kwargs: Unpack[GenerateConfigArgs],
+    ) -> TaskState:
+        return state
+
+    state = simple_task_state()
+
+    addition_tool = addition()
+    read_file_tool = read_file()
+
+    state = await (use_tools([addition_tool, read_file_tool]))(state, generate)
+    assert state.tools == [addition_tool, read_file_tool]
+
+    state = await (use_tools([addition_tool, read_file_tool]))(state, generate)
+    assert state.tools == [addition_tool, read_file_tool]
+
+    state = await (use_tools(addition_tool, read_file_tool))(state, generate)
+    assert state.tools == [addition_tool, read_file_tool]
+
+    state = await (use_tools([addition_tool]))(state, generate)
+    assert state.tools == [addition_tool]
+
+    state = await (use_tools(addition_tool))(state, generate)
+    assert state.tools == [addition_tool]
+
+    state = await (use_tools(tool_choice="auto"))(state, generate)
+    assert state.tools == [addition_tool]
+    assert state.tool_choice == "auto"