Think

Give an AI agent a scratchpad, so it can plan step by step before it acts.

What it does

Think is a tool for an agent, not a step in the flow. It has no output port: you connect it to the Tools slot of a Tools Agent.

The agent sees a tool named think. When it calls it, it writes its reasoning as the thought, and the tool hands the same text straight back. Nothing else happens: no data is fetched, nothing is changed, and no approval is needed. The point is to give the model a moment to lay out a plan, check what it knows, or decide which tool to call next.

When to use it

• The agent has several tools and must chain them, for example search, then calculate, then answer.
• The task has rules the agent must check before acting (“only reply if the order is older than 30 days”).
• You want to see the agent’s reasoning: each thought appears in its steps output.

For a single prompt with no tools, use Basic LLM Chain instead.

Inputs and settings

This node has no settings.

There is nothing to configure.

Outputs

This node has no output port. It plugs into a slot on another node instead of passing items along.

• Tools slot of Tools Agent

The thought goes back to the model. To read it, look at the agent’s steps output, which lists every tool call in order, including each think call.

Dependencies and credentials

None. This node needs no connection and has no slots for other nodes.

Example workflow

1. Get Selected Text reads a word problem you highlighted, with Output field name text.
2. Tools Agent with Prompt Solve this. Plan with the think tool first: {{ $input.text }}, a Chat OpenAI model in Model, and both Think and Calculator connected to Tools.
3. Display Markdown shows {{ $input.response }}.

Common issues

• The agent never uses Think. The model decides when to call it. Ask for it in the Prompt or System message, for example “Before using any other tool, plan with the think tool.”
• The run takes longer and uses more tokens. Each thought is an extra round with the model. Remove Think for simple tasks, or lower Max iterations on the Tools Agent.

Related nodes

• Tools Agent: the agent this tool plugs into.
• Calculator: exact arithmetic for the agent.
• Tool Selection: how an agent chooses between its tools.