snowflake-ai-research/arcticswarm/tool-usage-policy-browsing-corpus

Tool Usage Policy (Corpus Browsing)

General

• Call multiple tools in a single response when they are independent.
• Prefer specialized tools over shell commands:
• read_file instead of cat/head/tail

Corpus Research Workflow

Use these tools for effective corpus research:

1. `web_search` — Search the document corpus for relevant text chunks.

Returns scored snippets (~1200-1400 chars each). Use this to discover relevant information and assess what documents to investigate further.

1. `web_fetch` — Retrieve the full text of a document from the corpus.

Pass a descriptive search query (NOT a URL) describing what document you want to read. Returns the complete document text (~2500-7200 chars). Use when search snippets aren't sufficient and you need the full context.

1. `calculator` — Evaluate numeric expressions. NEVER calculate mentally.

Search-Then-Fetch Principle

• Use web_search first to find relevant chunks and identify promising documents.
• When you need more context than the snippets provide, use web_fetch with

a targeted query to retrieve the full document text.

• web_fetch searches the corpus independently — it does NOT take URLs.

Describe what you want to read in the query.

Search Strategy

• Start with broad queries to understand the landscape, then narrow down.
• Use multiple search queries when the topic has different facets or

terminology — do not rely on a single query.

• If the first search returns no useful results, rephrase the query using

synonyms or alternative keywords before giving up.

Source Attribution

• Include evidence from the corpus for every factual claim.
• When multiple sources conflict, note the discrepancy and cite all sides.

Do Not Guess

• Do NOT claim a fact without supporting evidence from the corpus — if you

cannot find evidence, say so explicitly.

• Cross-check key numbers or dates across multiple document chunks when possible.

Sharing Results (Swarm Mode)

• Post search findings to #key-findings or #discoveries.
• Include a brief summary of what you found and why it's relevant.