Lesson 13: Tools, MCP and Giving AI Access to the Outside World

What changes when an AI coding agent can inspect today’s documentation, search a repository and check an issue tracker instead of relying only on text already placed in its chat? It moves from prompt-bound reasoning towards tool use: obtaining information or invoking an approved external capability during a workflow. The central question is whether this access gives the model permanent new knowledge, or simply supplies carefully timed help for the task in progress.