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Pipeline Tool

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A RocketRide tool node that turns a whole inline pipeline into a single agent tool.

What it does

Exposes one tool, run_pipe, to an AI agent. When the agent calls it, the input text fans out to every connected output lane, the inline sub-pipeline runs synchronously, and the value from the configured response lane is returned to the agent.

tool_pipe is the one tool_* node with real output lanes (text, questions, documents, table, answers) on its _source channel. Wire them to other nodes on the same canvas to shape the tool's behavior, and cap each connected branch with a response node so results can flow back. As always, the agent binds through the invoke capability.

The sub-pipeline run is fully isolated: the lane write is synchronous, so by the time it returns the downstream response nodes have already populated their response values. Those response entries are snapshotted and then removed so they don't leak into the parent pipeline. The node has no external Python dependencies (requirements.txt is empty).


Configuration

FieldTypeDescription
tool_descriptionstringDefault empty. Natural-language description the agent uses to decide when to call this tool
return_typestringDefault "text". Which response lane value to return to the agent

The single default profile ships with an empty tool_description and return_type: "text".


Output lanes

The input string the agent passes is written to every connected output lane, lanes without a listener are skipped:

LanePayload sent downstream
textThe raw input string
questionsA Question object containing the input as a question
documentsA single Doc with the input as page_content
tableThe raw input string
answersAn Answer object with the input as the answer

Available tools

Pipeline

| Tool | Description | |---|---|---| | run_pipe | Run the connected pipeline with the given input and return its result. |

run_pipe takes one required parameter, data (string): the input to send to the pipeline. An empty or missing data raises an error. The tool returns an object with a single result string.


Return value extraction

After the sub-pipeline completes, the node reads the response value named by return_type:

  • text: returned as a plain string.
  • answers: the response is a list; the first answer is returned as a string.
  • documents / table: list or dict values are JSON-serialised to a string for the agent.
  • A missing value returns an empty string.

Gotcha: if the sub-pipeline returns no data at all, the tool returns an empty result. Make sure each connected branch ends with a response node, and that the branch feeding the lane named by return_type actually produces a response.


Schema

FieldTypeDescriptionDefault
tool_pipe.return_typestringReturn Type
Which response lane value to return to the agent
"text"
tool_pipe.tool_descriptionstringTool Description
Natural-language description the agent uses to decide when to call this tool
""