Tool Use (TU)

Weight: 10% — measures your effectiveness in using the tools available in the AI coding environment.

Selection (0–10)

Do you choose the right tool for the job?

High selection:

• Uses Read to inspect files before editing
• Uses Grep for content search instead of guessing locations
• Uses Glob for file pattern matching
• Chooses appropriate tools for the task type

Low selection:

• Uses Bash for everything (cat, grep, sed) when dedicated tools exist
• Doesn’t use search tools — relies on guessing file paths
• Uses overly broad tools when specific ones would be faster

Context (0–10)

Do you provide sufficient context for tool execution?

High context:

• Provides file paths, line numbers, and function names
• Includes error messages and expected behavior
• Sets up the right working directory and environment

Low context:

• Vague tool invocations without specific targets
• Missing file paths or line numbers
• No error context for debugging tasks

Improving TU

1. Read before editing — always inspect the file before modifying it
2. Use search tools — Grep and Glob are faster than guessing
3. Be specific — provide exact file paths and line numbers
4. Match tool to task — use the most appropriate tool, not just the most familiar