Requesty

Tools models call · October 2026

3.3% of chat requests in October 2026 returned at least one tool call. The most widely called tool name was "read", seen at 37.0% of organizations using tools.

Tool names that models called, ranked by how many tool-using organizations saw each one, plus the overall share of requests with a tool call.

Data through October 31, 2026Updated November 11, 2026
This is the permanent snapshot for October 2026. See the latest month (October 2026)

Share of tool-using organizations, October 2026

Source: Requesty production gateway
  • read37.0%
  • bash33.0%
  • edit30.6%
  • write30.3%
  • read_file23.6%
  • grep22.8%
  • glob21.9%
  • web_search20.9%
  • skill15.5%
  • write_file13.9%
  • terminal13.5%
  • webfetch12.8%
  • execute_code12.0%
  • search_files11.7%
  • shell11.6%
  • skill_view10.6%
  • patch10.3%
  • websearch10.2%
  • skill_manage9.1%
  • memory8.3%

Key findings

  1. 01Top tool names by reach: "read" (37.0%), "bash" (33.0%), "edit" (30.6%), "write" (30.3%), "read_file" (23.6%).
  2. 02"bash" appears in the most tool-call requests, 23.2% of them.
  3. 03shell moved the most since September 2026: reach went from 5.1% to 11.6% (+6.4 pp).

Share of tool-using organizations by month

0.0%10.9%21.8%32.7%43.5%Jul 26Aug 26Sep 26Oct 26read, Jul 26: 32.8%read, Aug 26: 40.3%read, Sep 26: 37.4%read, Oct 26: 37.0%bash, Jul 26: 29.2%bash, Aug 26: 38.6%bash, Sep 26: 34.5%bash, Oct 26: 33.0%edit, Jul 26: 23.4%edit, Aug 26: 30.9%edit, Sep 26: 29.7%edit, Oct 26: 30.6%write, Jul 26: 26.7%write, Aug 26: 31.8%write, Sep 26: 28.5%write, Oct 26: 30.3%read_file, Jul 26: 29.0%read_file, Aug 26: 26.7%read_file, Sep 26: 22.9%read_file, Oct 26: 23.6%grep, Jul 26: 19.2%grep, Aug 26: 24.6%grep, Sep 26: 21.6%grep, Oct 26: 22.8%
readbasheditwriteread_filegrep

What changed since September 2026

  • shell5.1% → 11.6% (+6.4 pp)
  • todowrite13.5% → 7.9% (-5.6 pp)
  • tool_call5.1% → 8.0% (+2.9 pp)
  • task8.7% → 6.0% (-2.7 pp)
  • agent7.6% → 5.0% (-2.6 pp)

What to do about it

  • Keep tool definitions stable between turns so they stay in the prompt cache.
  • Pick models with strong tool calling for agent work and check their error rate on /rankings.

Every tool call is logged with its arguments and latency in the Requesty dashboard.

Read about request logs

Data

Tool nameShare of tool-using organizationsShare of tool-call requestsOrganizations (band)
read36.96%8.94%100-499
bash33.02%23.23%100-499
edit30.57%3.08%100-499
write30.30%1.42%100-499
read_file23.64%1.38%100-499
grep22.83%2.63%100-499
glob21.88%0.89%100-499
web_search20.92%1.93%100-499
skill15.49%0.39%100-499
write_file13.86%0.90%100-499
terminal13.45%5.73%25-99
webfetch12.77%0.10%25-99
execute_code11.96%0.88%25-99
search_files11.68%0.58%25-99
shell11.55%1.46%25-99
skill_view10.60%0.53%25-99
patch10.33%0.75%25-99
websearch10.19%0.07%25-99
skill_manage9.10%0.34%25-99
memory8.29%0.08%25-99
tool_call8.02%0.35%25-99
todowrite7.88%0.24%25-99
question7.88%0.04%25-99
skills_list7.74%0.04%25-99
tool_search7.74%0.06%25-99
execute7.20%0.20%25-99
ask_user6.79%0.12%25-99
web_fetch6.66%0.07%25-99
web_extract6.39%0.05%25-99
tool_describe6.25%0.05%25-99
task5.98%0.30%25-99
exec5.98%0.73%25-99
apply_patch5.84%0.81%25-99
search_web5.57%0.05%25-99
ls5.16%0.27%25-99
agent5.03%0.08%25-99
list_files5.03%0.02%25-99
fetch_url5.03%0.28%25-99
vision_analyze4.76%0.08%25-99
clarify4.76%0.01%25-99

40 rows published. Rows below the floors are withheld.

Questions this answers

What tools do AI agents call most?
3.3% of chat requests in October 2026 returned at least one tool call. The most widely called tool name was "read", seen at 37.0% of organizations using tools.
What share of LLM requests use tool calling?
3.3% of chat requests in October 2026 returned at least one tool call. The most widely called tool name was "read", seen at 37.0% of organizations using tools.
Which agent tools are most common: read, bash, edit or web search?
3.3% of chat requests in October 2026 returned at least one tool call. The most widely called tool name was "read", seen at 37.0% of organizations using tools.

Method and definitions

  • Tool names come from the tool calls in model responses, lowercased. A tool counts once per request even if it is called several times.
  • A tool name needs 10 or more organizations before it is listed, on top of the standard floors, so names specific to one company never appear.
  • Tool-call data is recorded from July 2026, so this series starts then.
  • A row is published only when it has at least 20 requests, at least 5 distinct organizations, and no single organization above 80% of its traffic. These are the same floors /rankings uses. Rows below the floors are withheld, not estimated.
  • Only shares, rates, medians and organization bands are published. Absolute request, token and spend totals stay private.
Reach:
Organizations whose requests called this tool, divided by organizations with any tool call in the month.
Tool-call request:
A chat request whose response contained at least one tool call.

Caveats

  • Different agents name the same tool differently (read vs read_file, bash vs shell vs terminal). Names are not merged.
  • Only tool calls the model returned are counted, not tools that were offered but unused.

Revision history and other months

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