agent-framework/dotnet/samples/02-agents/AgentsWithFoundry/Agent_Step25_ToolboxServerSideTools

Agent_Step25_ToolboxServerSideTools

This sample demonstrates loading a named Foundry toolbox and passing its tools as server-side tools when creating an agent via AsAIAgent().

When tools from a toolbox are passed this way, they are sent as tool definitions in the Responses API request. The Foundry platform handles tool execution — the agent process does not invoke tools locally.

This is the dotnet equivalent of the Python sample: python/samples/02-agents/providers/foundry/foundry_chat_client_with_toolbox.py

Prerequisites

• A Microsoft Foundry project
• AZURE_AI_PROJECT_ENDPOINT environment variable set to your Foundry project endpoint
• AZURE_AI_MODEL_DEPLOYMENT_NAME environment variable set (defaults to gpt-5.4-mini)

The sample recreates the toolbox on each run, replacing any existing toolbox with the same name. Comment out the CreateSampleToolboxAsync call if you want to keep an existing toolbox unchanged.

How it works

1. projectClient.GetToolboxVersionAsync(name) fetches the toolbox definition from the Foundry project API (resolving the default version if none is specified)
2. ToolboxVersion.ToAITools() converts each tool definition to an AITool instance
3. The tools are passed to AsAIAgent(tools: ...) which includes them in the Responses API request as server-side tool definitions

For a one-liner, use projectClient.GetToolboxToolsAsync(name) to fetch and convert in one call.

Sample flows

Flow	Description
Main (default)	Loads a single toolbox and runs an agent with its tools
CombineToolboxes	Loads two toolboxes and merges their tools into one agent

Uncomment the desired flow in the top-level statements to try each one.

Running the sample

dotnet run