---
title: "Tools and permissions"
description: "Every tool the assistant has, whether it reads or needs approval, the role it requires, and the actions that are never available to it."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.overlane.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Tools and permissions

The assistant has a fixed list of tools. A tool is a **read** or a **write** according to the HTTP method of the API operation behind it: `GET` and `HEAD` are reads and everything else is a write. The tables below are checked against the tool registry by a test, so they cannot drift.

**Status** is `Available` when the tool calls an operation in the [API reference](/api/) or runs locally, and `Preview` when the API route behind it is not live yet and the tool is built against its contract.

## Read tools

Reads run automatically, inside your own role. A role that cannot call a tool gets a refusal with the reason.

| Tool | Action | Minimum role | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `searchDocs` | Search the docs, changelog and reference and answer with citations. | viewer | Available |
| `navigate` | Find the app page for a request, among pages this user can open. | viewer | Available |
| `explainPage` | Explain what an app page is for, from the route index. | viewer | Available |
| `listProjects` | List the projects in this workspace. | viewer | Available |
| `getProject` | Show one project. | viewer | Available |
| `listIssues` | List issues in a project, optionally by status. | viewer | Available |
| `getIssue` | Show one issue. | viewer | Available |
| `listIssueEvents` | Show the history of an issue. | viewer | Available |
| `searchMemory` | Search saved decisions and lessons. | viewer | Available |
| `listRuns` | List recent agent runs in a project. | viewer | Preview |
| `listReviews` | List reviews in a project. | viewer | Preview |
| `getCosts` | Show spend by agent and project this month. | viewer | Preview |
| `getLogs` | Show recent log lines for a project. | viewer | Preview |
| `runDiagnostics` | Check the workspace connection, agents and policies and report problems. | viewer | Preview |

## Write tools

A write tool never runs by itself. It returns an [approval](/overlane-agent/approvals-and-undo/) with a plain-language summary and the diff, and runs only after you approve.

| Tool | Action | Minimum role | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `createIssue` | Create an issue in a project. | member | Available |
| `updateIssue` | Change an issue's title, description, status or priority. | member | Available |
| `assignIssue` | Assign an issue to a person, an agent or a bot, or clear the assignee. | member | Available |
| `changePolicy` | Change the value of a run or guardrail policy setting. | admin | Preview |
| `startRun` | Open a run record for a connected agent on a project, optionally for one issue. Overlane does not launch the agent; the agent does the work and reports back. | member | Preview |
| `cancelRun` | Mark a run that is in progress as cancelled. Overlane does not stop the agent itself. | member | Preview |
| `rerunCi` | Re-run a CI pipeline run. | member | Available |

## Never available

Billing, secrets and destructive actions are not tools. The assistant tells you where to do them yourself.

- **Billing:** plan changes, payment methods, invoices and seats.
- **Secrets:** creating, showing, rotating or listing tokens, API keys and credentials.
- **Destructive actions:** deleting or purging projects, memory or anything else.

There is also no tool that approves, accepts or confirms. Only you can approve, with the Approve button.

## Check it yourself

This sample runs in the docs tests against the real contracts:

```js run
assert.equal(classifyMethod("GET"), "read");
assert.equal(classifyMethod("POST"), "write");
assert.equal(blockedClassFor({ method: "DELETE", path: "/v1/tenants/t1/projects/p1", operationId: "deleteProject" }), "destructive");
assert.equal(blockedClassFor({ method: "GET", path: "/v1/tenants/t1/projects/p1/issues", operationId: "listIssues" }), null);
```

Source: https://docs.overlane.app/overlane-agent/tools-and-permissions/index.mdx