Find an AI tool for a job — that will still exist next year
recommend_toolsUse this when the user describes what they need an AI tool to DO rather than naming one — "something to transcribe interviews", "an image generator with an API", "a writing tool for a small team". Returns a verified shortlist matched on the described need, filtered by constraints the caller sets, and — unique to this catalog — screened against a survival bar: tools failing our link-health probes or scoring badly on the 5-signal viability model can be excluded outright. Each result carries its own health verdict, the date our record of it was last rebuilt, and pricing model. Matching is keyword and fuzzy text search over 8,000+ verified tools; the response states this. Tools with no viability measurement yet are listed separately by name rather than silently dropped. Not for: questions about a tool the user already named (use check_tool_status), head-to-head choices (use compare_tools), or filtering by price amount — prices are recorded verbatim in mixed currencies and are never converted or compared numerically.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| need | Yes | What the tool must do, in the user's own words. e.g. "transcribe podcast interviews with speaker labels". | |
| limit | No | How many results to return (max 10). | |
| requires_api | No | Only return tools recorded as offering an API. | |
| survival_bar | No | exclude_at_risk = drop tools scoring below the at-risk threshold, with a failing main site, or whose published website now redirects to a different company. safe_bet_only = only the strongest band. none = no survival screening (moved-identity tools are then returned WITH the move stated). | exclude_at_risk |
| pricing_model | No | Filter by recorded pricing model. has_free_option = free or freemium. There is no price-amount filter: prices are verbatim strings in mixed currencies. | any |
| exclude_wrappers | No | Exclude tools assessed as thin wrappers around a third-party model. |