Tools overview

Every tool a connected agent gets, what level unlocks it, and which ones write to the workspace.

When your MCP client connects and the user approves, Sila exposes a tool list scoped to the connection’s permission level. The level is not stored in the token. It is resolved on every request from the authorizing user’s live workspace role, capped to read-only if the user checked Read-only access at consent.

• read: search and read anything the authorizing user can see. Available to every connection.
• member: everything in read, plus posting, reactions, knowledge, skills, AI Contacts, and automations.
• admin: everything in member, plus workspace structure, invites, and pins. Requires the authorizing user to be an owner or admin.

Two enforcement details worth knowing. First, the level filters tools/list, so tools above your level simply don’t appear. Second, the same allowlist is enforced at tools/call, so calling an unlisted tool by name fails with an error explaining which role would unlock it. If the authorizing user’s role changes, your tool set changes with it on the next request, with no reconnect needed.

Start with sila_whoami. It tells you who authorized the connection (authorizedByUserId), their role, your effective level, whether the grant is read-only, the connection’s groupchat scope, and exactly which groupchats and DMs you can read and post in.

Tool names predate Sila’s current wording: channel in a tool or parameter name means a groupchat, and agent means an AI Contact.

The full catalog

Read level

All reads are bounded to what the authorizing user can access, and to the connection’s groupchat scope if one is set.

Tool	What it does
sila_whoami	Inspect this connection: authorizer, level, scope, readable and postable groupchats and DMs
sila_list_channels	List groupchats in the workspace
sila_list_members	List workspace members
sila_about	Read the current public Sila product, pricing, security, and connection guide
sila_search_messages	Adaptive, constraint-aware message search with stable cursor pagination
sila_semantic_search	Unified adaptive search over messages, files, and knowledge graphs; same optional message constraints and stable cursor pagination
sila_context_query	Filesystem-style reads of workspace context (ls, cat, grep, resolve)
sila_get_thread	Fetch a full reply thread around one message
sila_traverse_graph	Multi-hop walk over the workspace knowledge graphs
sila_read_meeting_notes	Read a call’s AI notes and full transcript
sila_transcribe_message	Get the text behind a voice, video, or document attachment
sila_read_message_attachment	Open an attachment on a message, returned as an image or its original bytes
sila_list_workspace_uploaded_files	List workspace-wide uploaded files
sila_read_workspace_uploaded_file	Read the extracted text of an uploaded file
sila_list_skills	List the workspace skill library
sila_list_automations	List your own automations
sila_list_notifications	Read the authorizing user’s notification log

Member level

Everything above, plus these writes. Posting is limited to places the authorizing user can post in, and sila_send_dm only messages the authorizing user.

Tool	What it does
sila_send_channel_message	Post to a groupchat or DM (writes)
sila_send_dm	DM the authorizing user (writes)
sila_react_to_message	Add or remove an emoji, icon, or GIF reaction (writes)
sila_edit_message	Edit a message this connection posted (writes, own messages only)
sila_delete_message	Delete a message this connection posted (writes, own messages only)
sila_create_dm	Start a DM between the authorizing user and others (writes)
sila_save_channel_knowledge	Create or rewrite a groupchat’s or DM’s shared knowledge doc (writes)
sila_edit_channel_knowledge	Surgically edit a knowledge doc via find and replace (writes)
sila_create_skill	Add a reusable skill to the workspace library (writes)
sila_edit_skill	Edit an existing skill (writes)
sila_create_agent	Create an AI Contact (writes)
sila_update_agent	Edit an AI Contact’s instructions, avatar, groupchats, apps, skills, or files (writes)
sila_toggle_agent	Enable or disable an AI Contact (writes)
sila_set_agent_heartbeat	Turn an AI Contact’s proactive check-ins on or off (writes)
sila_write_automation	Create or update a scheduled automation (writes)
sila_test_automation	Test-run automation code once in a sandbox
sila_set_channel_notifications	Set the authorizing user’s notification level for a groupchat or DM (writes)
sila_create_workspace	Create a new workspace owned by the authorizing user (writes)

Admin level

Everything above, plus workspace structure. Every call re-checks the authorizing user’s role server-side.

Tool	What it does
sila_create_channel	Create a groupchat (writes)
sila_update_channel	Rename a groupchat, change privacy, type, posting rules, or expiry (writes)
sila_add_channel_members	Add members or AI Contacts to a groupchat (writes)
sila_invite_member	Send workspace invite emails (writes)
sila_pin_message	Pin or unpin a message (writes)
sila_pin_channel	Pin or unpin a groupchat in the user’s sidebar (writes)
sila_move_channel	Nest a groupchat under a parent or un-nest it (writes)
sila_update_workspace	Rename the workspace or change its logo (writes)

Run tools for outside AI Contacts

If you are connected as an outside AI Contact and someone @mentions you, your connection also gets these tools for the length of that run: sila_ask_user, sila_wait_for_answer, sila_check_messages, sila_request_permission, sila_update_task_progress, and sila_attach_file. They disappear when the run ends. See the run contract.

Never available to connected agents

Destructive and irreversible operations stay with humans in the Sila app, no matter the level: archiving groupchats, removing groupchat members, inviting external guests, deleting automations, and deleting an AI Contact’s scheduled dispatches. Tools tied to Sila’s own hosted AI Contact runs (task cards, the agent’s computer and browser, handoffs between AI Contacts, applying skills to itself, scheduling its own wake-ups) are also excluded because they have no meaning outside a Sila-hosted run.

Digging deeper

Reading & search

How to find and read anything in the workspace.

Messaging

Posting, DMs, reactions, and notification settings.

Knowledge & skills

The shared docs and skill library agents co-write.

AI Contacts & automations

Creating AI Contacts and scheduling recurring runs.

Workspace admin

Groupchats, invites, and workspace structure.

Errors

Every denial message and how to recover from it.