Connecting your data

Give agents access to external sources using context providers.

Product agents that work with live business state need current records and product actions. Context providers connect them to sources such as web search, files, databases, Slack, Google Drive, and MCP servers.

In default mode, context providers expose a source through query_<source> and, where enabled, update_<source>. The query surface can delegate source-specific work to a sub-agent. Set mode=ContextMode.tools when the calling agent should receive the provider’s underlying tools directly.

from agno.agent import Agent
from agno.context.web import ExaBackend, WebContextProvider
from agno.models.openai import OpenAIResponses

web = WebContextProvider(backend=ExaBackend(), model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5.5"))

agent = Agent(
    model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5.5"),
    tools=web.get_tools(),
    instructions=web.instructions() + "\nAlways cite URLs inline.",
)

agent.run("What's the latest pricing for Anthropic's models?")

Query sources at run time

Context providers call the configured source when the agent invokes their tools. Freshness depends on the source API, backend, and any caching it applies. Providers can return source URIs or synthesized text; links and citations depend on the provider and its output.

Vector retrieval remains useful for indexed corpora. Context providers are useful when a task needs source-specific navigation or current records from an external system.

Behavior	What determines it
Source freshness	The source API, provider backend, and caching
Links and citations	The provider’s returned documents and the agent’s response
Accessible records	The permissions granted to the provider’s credentials

Provider modes

Each provider ships a recommended tool surface. Override mode to trade tool count against direct control.

Need	Mode
Provider-recommended tool surface	ContextMode.default
One natural-language query tool backed by a sub-agent	ContextMode.agent
Direct control over provider operations	ContextMode.tools exposes the underlying tools

from agno.context import ContextMode
from agno.context.web import ExaBackend, WebContextProvider

web = WebContextProvider(backend=ExaBackend(), mode=ContextMode.tools)

Sources

Source	Tools	Backed by
Web	query_web	Exa, Parallel, or an MCP search backend
Filesystem	query_fs	A local directory of files, read-only
Workspace	query_workspace	A filesystem path or repo, read-only
Database	query_database, update_database	SQLAlchemy read and write engines
Knowledge wiki	query_wiki, update_wiki	Filesystem, a Git repo, or Notion for durable prose memory
Slack	query_slack, update_slack	Slack API, reads and writes
Google Drive	query_gdrive	A service account or OAuth credentials, read-only
Gmail	query_gmail, update_gmail	Gmail API with Google credentials; writes are off by default
Google Calendar	query_calendar, update_calendar	Google Calendar API; writes are off by default
MCP servers	query_mcp_<slug>	Any MCP server: Linear, GitHub, Notion

Read-only providers

For providers that support writes, write=False removes the update tool from the default surface. A read-only provider such as the web has no update tool. This setting does not change permissions for other clients or integrations that can access the same source.

Next steps

Task	Guide
Reach users where they work	Interfaces
Persist what the agent learns	Sessions and memory

Developer Resources

• Context engineering
• Context providers cookbook
• What are Context Providers?
• Scout: connect MCP servers