How agents choose among too many tools
Originally posted on LinkedIn, July 22, 2026.
Our agent already has a lot of tools. How is it supposed to choose the right one, and what happens when that grows to 100? Roman Serkinskiy built a solution to this problem and wrote an interesting and funny Medium post about it.
During my MBA, I read an article called “the tyranny of choice” that stuck with me. It described an experiment in which researchers set up a supermarket tasting stand with 24 types of jam, then tried the same setup with 6. The larger stand attracted more people, but only about 3% bought something. With just 6 options, about 30% made a purchase. More choice attracted attention, but it also made decisions harder and reduced action.
Fast-forward to 2026. Our agent needs to choose its favorite jam. The fewer options we give it, the easier the choice becomes and the more accurate its result will be.
The hard part is deciding how to narrow those options. How do we separate the tools it uses regularly from the ones it rarely needs? That is not a simple problem. Fortunately, we have Roman.