sequentialthinking
Breaks down complex problems into iterative reasoning steps, supporting revisions and branching with clear continuation signals until conclusion is reached.
Instructions
Multi-step sequential reasoning contract. Always treat this tool as iterative: after each response, read structuredContent.should_continue and continue calling until it is false. Actively use reflection: when a step reveals a flaw, explicitly send a revision step with isRevision=true. Input contract:
thought: one concrete reasoning step in natural language.
thoughtNumber: 1-based step index; increment by one for each new step.
totalThoughts: target number of steps for the current plan.
nextThoughtNeeded: true while the sequence should continue; false on final step.
isRevision: true only when revising an earlier conclusion.
branchFromThought + branchId: set together to explore an alternative branch.
needsMoreThoughts: true only when extending beyond totalThoughts. Output contract:
structuredContent.should_continue: canonical continuation signal.
structuredContent.next_thought_number: next recommended thoughtNumber.
structuredContent.stop_reason: canonical reason code for orchestration.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| thought | Yes | Current reasoning step text. Keep this to one concrete step. | |
| thoughtNumber | Yes | 1-based sequence index for this thought. Increment for each step. | |
| totalThoughts | Yes | Estimated total number of steps in the current reasoning plan. | |
| nextThoughtNeeded | Yes | Set true when another thought follows this one. Set false on the final thought. | |
| isRevision | Yes | Set true only when this step revises an earlier conclusion. | |
| branchFromThought | Yes | Original thought number for branching. Null for the main path. | |
| branchId | Yes | Branch identifier. Required when branchFromThought is not null. | |
| needsMoreThoughts | Yes | Set true only when you must continue beyond totalThoughts. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| should_continue | Yes | If true, call sequentialthinking again. The tool is designed for multi-step reasoning loops. | |
| next_thought_number | No | Recommended thoughtNumber for the next call. Null means no next step is currently required. | |
| stop_reason | Yes | Machine-readable reason that explains why to continue or stop. | |
| current_thought_number | Yes | Echo of the current thoughtNumber after normalization. | |
| total_thoughts | Yes | Echo of current totalThoughts after normalization. | |
| next_call_arguments | No | Concrete argument recommendations for the next call when the current run completes successfully and should continue. | |
| parameter_usage | Yes | Contract reminders for each core parameter to keep multi-step iterations consistent. |