Automation Tools Reference

Custom automations run on a schedule with the tools you grant. This page is the reference for what’s available, what changes live data, and what template automations use instead.

Template automations (Search Opportunity, Interlinking, etc.) use dedicated specialist engines with a fixed, smaller tool set — not the full catalog below. See Agent templates.

How tools behave in scheduled runs

Behavior	Detail
Auto-confirm	Mutating tools run without a second approval. Only grant tools your instructions need.
Site pinning	Every tool executes against the automation’s own site — you cannot cross sites in one automation.
Denylist	`createCustomAction`, `updateAutomation`, and `runAutomationNow` are hidden from the picker and blocked at run time — automations cannot spawn or trigger other automations.
Credit gate	Runs blocked at 0 AI credits. Pro+ plan required.
Connector tools	Granted explicitly from connected MCP connectors; run with auto-confirm when granted.

Execution limits (custom automations)

Limit	Value
Model	Claude Opus
Max tool steps per run	15
Max tools grantable	30 per automation
Auto-confirm	On

Tool categories

78 built-in tools appear in the Automations builder, grouped into 12 categories. Tools marked Mutating change live state.

Awareness & setup

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`getSiteSituation`		Full SEO snapshot — analytics, content, setup health, autopilot, keywords, opportunities, AI visibility, latest report
`getAccountHealth`		Setup health check — GSC, IndexNow, CMS, keywords, sitemap, autopilot blockers
`list_sites`		List websites on your account
`get_site`		Details and settings for one site
`searchSiteContent`		Semantic search over articles and pages
`proposeCustomAction`		Draft a scheduled automation for review (does not save)
`listAutomations`		List automations with schedule, status, and latest run
`getSlackStatus`		Slack connection status and available notification channels

Search analytics

All accept optional days lookback (1–365, default 28).

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`get_search_overview`		Clicks, impressions, position, CTR summary
`get_search_timeseries`		Day-by-day search performance
`get_search_queries`		Top search queries (optional `limit` 1–100)
`get_search_pages`		Top landing pages (optional `limit` 1–100)
`get_search_article_performance`		GSC performance for Sight AI articles

AI visibility

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`get_ai_visibility_summary`		Brand mention rate across AI models
`get_ai_visibility_trends`		Visibility over time
`get_ai_visibility_mentions`		Where and how you’re mentioned
`get_ai_visibility_citations`		Pages AI assistants cite
`get_ai_visibility_competitors`		Visibility vs tracked competitors
`listTrackedPrompts`		Monitored AI prompts
`createTrackedPrompt`	Yes	Add a prompt to monitoring
`setTrackedPromptActive`	Yes	Activate or pause a tracked prompt

Opportunities

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`list_opportunities`		Content opportunities from search and AI data
`get_opportunities_readiness`		Whether enough data exists for reliable suggestions

Content & articles

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`list_articles`		List articles by status
`get_article`		Full article — title, body, SEO, status
`get_article_limits`		Monthly article quota and usage
`generate_article`	Yes	Generate a new SEO article (async — poll until ready)
`update_article`	Yes	Edit title, body, SEO fields, slug
`refresh_seo_title`	Yes	AI-rewrite SEO title only
`refresh_seo_meta`	Yes	AI-rewrite meta description only
`create_draft_article`	Yes	Create empty draft for manual writing
`edit_article_section`	Yes	Surgical body edit — append, replace section, or rewrite intro
`generate_article_image`	Yes	AI-generate cover image
`set_article_main_image`	Yes	Set or clear hero image
`recommend_article_types`		Suggest listicle, guide, or explainer per keyword
`recommend_article_category`		Suggest CMS category
`list_article_authors`		CMS authors for byline assignment
`create_article_batch`	Yes	Queue 1–100 articles through generation
`project_interlinks`		Forecast internal links an interlinking run would add
`sync_article`	Yes	Publish ready article to connected CMS
`get_article_sync_status`		Per-platform sync status
`get_cms_status`		Active CMS integration status
`list_integrations`		Connected CMS and platform integrations

Keywords

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`list_keywords`		Tracked keywords with pipeline status
`get_keyword`		Single keyword lookup
`get_keywords_summary`		Dashboard totals and recommendations
`add_keywords`	Yes	Add keywords (deduped automatically)
`manage_keywords`	Yes	Unified keyword operations — list, get, summary, add, list groups

Status filters: all, no_article, ready, synced, scheduled, generating, failed, published Source filters: all, user, ai, import, autopilot

Autopilot & planner

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`setAutopilot`	Yes	Turn Autopilot on/off, set articles/day, keyword sourcing
`schedule_article`	Yes	Queue ready articles for future CMS publish
`manage_planner`	Yes	Planner settings, scheduled queue, generation plan

manage_planner actions: get_settings, update_settings, list_scheduled, update_scheduled, remove_scheduled, clear_scheduled, list_generation, clear_generation, plan_generation, get_autopilot

Indexing

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`submit_sitemap_gsc`	Yes	Submit sitemap to Google Search Console
`get_gsc_status`		GSC connection status
`submit_article_indexnow`	Yes	Ping IndexNow for a published URL
`get_indexnow_status`		IndexNow setup status
`forceReindexSite`	Yes	Re-crawl sitemap and resubmit all URLs

SEO report & agents

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`getSeoReport`		Latest Site Performance report
`runSeoAudit`	Yes	Trigger a fresh Site Performance audit
`list_agents`		Agent configurations for the site
`list_agent_runs`		Recent agent run history
`update_agent`	Yes	Toggle active, adjust budget, schedule, threshold
`run_agent`	Yes	Trigger an on-demand specialist agent run

Agent keys: article_creation, ai_prompt, article_boost, interlinking, site_performance, outreach

Inbox (Outreach — Advanced plan)

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`list_inbox`		Outreach conversations with previews
`read_message`		Full thread with context
`get_inbox_unread_count`		Unread message count
`mark_conversation_read`		Mark inbound messages as read
`reply_to_message`	Yes	Send a human-written reply
`update_conversation_status`	Yes	Resolve, decline, reopen, pause, or resume AI
`take_over_conversation`	Yes	Hand thread to Outreach Agent for a draft reply

Research

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`webSearch`		Web search with sourced summary
`webFetch`		Fetch and extract text from a public URL
`fetch_url_content`		Crawl a URL — title, headings, body
`getDomainRating`		Ahrefs Domain Rating (free API — no connector required)

Memory

Tool	Mutating	What it does
`remember`		Save durable memory (`scope: site` or `scope: user`)

Chat-only tools

These work in Agent chat but are not available in scheduled automations:

Tool	Purpose
`createCustomAction`	Create a new automation (requires user confirmation)
`updateAutomation`	Edit an existing automation
`runAutomationNow`	Trigger a manual run
`forgetMemory`	Remove a stale memory entry (deleting memory is destructive, so it stays human-driven)

Use Agent chat to create automations, then manage them on the Automations page.

MCP connector tools

Teams with MCP connectors connected see an additional tool group per provider in the picker. Sight AI ships 22+ prebuilt connectors across SEO, analytics, CRM, automation, and project tracking — see the full connector list.

Default permission	Connectors
Always allow	Read-only SEO and research (Ahrefs, Semrush, DataForSEO, SearchAPI, Firecrawl, Exa, Parallel, Cometly)
Ask first	CRM, billing, support, content, automation, and custom connectors (HubSpot, Stripe, Notion, Zapier, Sentry, Linear, and others)

Tool names are dynamic — they match what each provider exposes after connection. Tools set to Don’t allow on the connector detail page are hidden from the picker. Limits: 5 custom connectors per team · 30 tools per connector · 80 total connector tools in the agent.

Template-only tools

Specialist agents — the template automations and the Inbox-configured Outreach Agent — use internal engines with a constrained tool set. These tools are not in the custom automation picker:

Category	Examples
Opportunities	`findPendingOpportunities`, `acceptOpportunity`, `rejectOpportunity`
Articles	`dispatchArticle`, `refreshArticle`, `enqueueCmsSync`
Internal linking	`findAnchorCandidates`, `insertAnchor`, `insertLinkSentence`
Site health	`runLighthouseAudit`, `createSiteIssueReport`
Outreach	`lookupContactEmail`, `generateOutreachEmail`, `sendOutreachEmail`

Each template grants only the subset it needs. See Agent templates for per-template behavior and action budgets.

Example recipes

Weekly SEO digest

Instructions: Pull search overview and AI visibility summary. List top 5 queries gaining impressions and top 3 AI prompts where we’re not mentioned. Summarize in 3 bullets. Tools: get_search_overview, get_search_timeseries, get_search_queries, get_ai_visibility_summary, listTrackedPrompts

Keyword gap filler

Instructions: List keywords with status no_article. Generate articles for up to 2 highest-priority terms. Do not sync to CMS. Tools: list_keywords, get_article_limits, recommend_article_types, generate_article

Monday health check

Instructions: Run getAccountHealth and getSiteSituation. If any blocker is critical, summarize it. Otherwise post a one-paragraph all-clear. Tools: getAccountHealth, getSiteSituation, get_search_queries, getSlackStatus Enable Slack notifications on the automation for delivery.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
Tool not in picker	Chat-only tool, connector not connected, or tool set to Don’t allow
”No valid tools configured”	Stored tools reference removed or renamed names — re-edit and re-select
Mutating tool did nothing	Instructions didn’t call it, or credits/plan gate blocked the run
Hit 15-step limit	Split work across automations or reduce scope in instructions
Connector tool fails	Connector disconnected, expired credentials, or permission set to Don’t allow

Custom automations — create and configure tool-based workflows
MCP connectors — full connector catalog and setup
Agent templates — specialist engines with fixed tool sets
Monitoring & troubleshooting — audit runs and debug failures

AI Visibility

Search (Google)

Opportunities

Collaboration

AI Content

Indexing

Planner

Automations

Autopilot

Teams & Users

Settings

Automation Tools Reference

How tools behave in scheduled runs

Execution limits (custom automations)

Tool categories

Awareness & setup

Search analytics

AI visibility

Opportunities

Content & articles

Keywords

Autopilot & planner

Indexing

SEO report & agents

Inbox (Outreach — Advanced plan)

Research

Memory

Chat-only tools

MCP connector tools

Template-only tools

Example recipes

Weekly SEO digest

Keyword gap filler

Monday health check

Troubleshooting

​How tools behave in scheduled runs

​Execution limits (custom automations)

​Tool categories

​Awareness & setup

​Search analytics

​AI visibility

​Opportunities

​Content & articles

​Keywords

​Autopilot & planner

​Indexing

​SEO report & agents

​Inbox (Outreach — Advanced plan)

​Research

​Memory

​Chat-only tools

​MCP connector tools

​Template-only tools

​Example recipes

​Weekly SEO digest

​Keyword gap filler

​Monday health check

​Troubleshooting

​Related

How tools behave in scheduled runs

Execution limits (custom automations)

Tool categories

Awareness & setup

Search analytics

AI visibility

Opportunities

Content & articles

Keywords

Autopilot & planner

Indexing

SEO report & agents

Inbox (Outreach — Advanced plan)

Research

Memory

Chat-only tools

MCP connector tools

Template-only tools

Example recipes

Weekly SEO digest

Keyword gap filler

Monday health check

Troubleshooting

Related