Tools

Amp runs tools and shell commands on your behalf to inspect code, run tests, and iterate quickly.

By default, Amp does not ask for approval before running tools.

Amp acts on content in your workspace. Untrusted repositories, MCP servers, and other external inputs can influence what Amp does. If you regularly work with untrusted sources, consider creating a custom policy plugin, or using an isolated development environment.

Built-in Tools

You can see Amp’s builtin tools by running amp tools list in the CLI.

Oracle

Amp has access to a powerful “second opinion” model that’s better suited for complex reasoning or analysis tasks, at the cost of being slightly slower, slightly more expensive, and less suited to day-to-day code editing tasks than the main agent’s model.

This model is available to Amp’s main agent through a tool called oracle. Oracle routing depends on the agent mode, connected model provider subscriptions, workspace restrictions, and model availability. In high mode without a connected ChatGPT subscription, Oracle currently uses Claude Fable 5 with high reasoning. With a connected ChatGPT subscription, it uses GPT-5.6 Sol with high reasoning to maximize use of that subscription. The main High agent currently uses GPT-5.6 Sol with x-high reasoning in both cases. See Models for the other current routes. These mappings can change as Amp evaluates new models.

The main agent can autonomously decide to ask the oracle for help when debugging or reviewing a complex piece of code. We intentionally do not force the main agent to always use the oracle, due to higher costs and slower inference speed.

We recommend explicitly asking Amp’s main agent to use the oracle when you think it will be helpful. Here are some examples from our own usage of Amp:

Use the oracle to review the last commit's changes. I want to make sure that the actual logic for when an idle or requires-user-input notification sound plays has not changed.
Ask the oracle whether there isn't a better solution.
I have a bug in these files: ... It shows up when I run this command: ... Help me fix this bug. Use the oracle as much as possible, since it's smart.
Analyze how the functions `foobar` and `barfoo` are used. Then I want you to work a lot with the oracle to figure out how we can refactor the duplication between them while keeping changes backwards compatible.

See the GPT-5 oracle announcement for more information.

Librarian

Amp can search remote codebases with the use of the Librarian subagent. The Librarian can search and read all public code on GitHub as well as your private GitHub repositories.

Tell Amp to summon the Librarian when you need to do cross-repository research, or, for example, when you want it to read the code of the frameworks and libraries you’re using. The Librarian’s answers are typically longer and more detailed as we built it to provide in-depth explanations. The Librarian will only search code on the default branch of the repository.

You might need to prompt the main agent explicitly to use the Librarian. Here are some examples:

Explain how new versions of our documentation are deployed when we release. Search our docs and infra repositories to see how they get to X.Y.sourcegraph.com.
I have a bug in this validation code using Zod, it's throwing a weird error. Ask the Librarian to investigate why the error is happening and show me the logic causing it.
Use the Librarian to investigate the `foo` service - were there any recent changes to the API endpoints I am using in `bar`? If so, what are they and when were they merged?

See the Librarian announcement for more information.

GitHub

You need to configure a connection to GitHub in your settings to use it. If you want the Librarian to be able to see your private repositories, you need to select them when configuring your GitHub connection. See GitHub’s documentation on installing and authorizing GitHub apps for more information.

Painter

Amp can generate and edit images using the Painter tool, powered by GPT Image 2.

Tell Amp to use the Painter when you need to create UI mockups, app icons, hero images, or edit existing images such as redacting sensitive information from screenshots. You can also provide up to 3 reference images for style guidance or editing by @-mentioning image files in your prompt.

You might need to prompt the Amp explicitly to use the Painter. Here are some examples:

Use the painter to create a UI mockup for my settings page.
Use the painter to generate an app icon for my CLI tool. Dark background with a glowing terminal cursor in cyan.
Use the painter to redact any visible API keys or passwords in this terminal screenshot.

See the Painter announcement for more information.

Permissions

Amp does not ask for approval before running tools.

The Plugin API allows you to customize this behavior.

If Amp detects amp.permissions, amp.guardedFiles.allowlist, or amp.dangerouslyAllowAll (set to false) in your settings, an internal plugin is activated to apply the legacy permissions rules.