Tutorials Prompt Engineering Tutorial

Function Calling — Complete Guide

Function Calling — Complete Guide: free step-by-step lesson with examples, common mistakes, and interview tips — part of Prompt Engineering Tutorial on Toolliyo Academy.

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Prompt Engineering Tutorial · Lesson 34 of 100

Function Calling

PromptsApps

Prompts · 1 — Basics · ~6 min · Module 4: Structured Outputs

What is this?

Function calling (OpenAI-style) lets the model return structured tool invocations — function name plus JSON arguments — instead of prose.

Why should you care?

PromptVerse agents declare functions like search_docs and create_ticket for the model to invoke.

See it live — copy this example

Copy the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude, or your LLM API playground and compare outputs.

tools = [{ type: "function", function: {
  name: "search_docs",
  parameters: { type: "object", properties: { query: { type: "string" } }, required: ["query"] }
}}]
messages = [{ role: "user", content: "Find refund policy for annual plans" }]
// model may return tool_calls[0].function.arguments

What happened?

  • Tools array defines callable surface.
  • Model emits tool_calls when it needs data; your server runs search_docs and returns tool role message.

Practice next

  1. Register one function in playground.
  2. Trigger a query needing search.
  3. Execute function server-side.
  4. Add optional top_k integer param.
  5. Require human approval before destructive tools.

Remember

Schema defines safe parameters. Server executes — model does not. Allow-list tool names.

Doc search tool

Chatbot answers policy questions.

Outcome: Model calls search_docs instead of guessing policy text.

Interview prep for this lesson

Practice these questions aloud after reading—each links to a full structured answer.

Junior Detailed
Explain Concepts in the context of Prompt Engineering.
Short answer: Interviewers want a crisp definition, a practical example from your projects, and awareness of trade-offs—not textbook dumps. Explain a bit more How to structure your answer (60–90 seconds) Define Concepts…
Mid Detailed
What are common mistakes teams make with LLMs when using Prompt Engineering?
Short answer: Interviewers want a crisp definition, a practical example from your projects, and awareness of trade-offs—not textbook dumps. Explain a bit more How to structure your answer (60–90 seconds) Define LLMs in p…
Senior Detailed
How would you debug a production issue related to RAG in a Prompt Engineering application?
Short answer: Interviewers want a crisp definition, a practical example from your projects, and awareness of trade-offs—not textbook dumps. Explain a bit more How to structure your answer (60–90 seconds) Define RAG in pl…
Junior Detailed
Describe a real-world scenario where Production mattered in a Prompt Engineering project.
Short answer: Interviewers want a crisp definition, a practical example from your projects, and awareness of trade-offs—not textbook dumps. Explain a bit more How to structure your answer (60–90 seconds) Define Productio…
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Prompt Engineering Tutorial
Course syllabus

Prompt Engineering Tutorial

Module 1: Prompt Engineering Foundations
Module 2: Basic Prompting Techniques
Module 3: Advanced Prompt Engineering
Module 4: Structured Outputs
Module 5: RAG Systems
Module 6: AI Agents
Module 7: AI Automation
Module 8: Prompt Security & Ethics
Module 9: Performance & Optimization
Module 10: Real-World AI Projects
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