AI Tools
Give AI agents the ability to discover, browse, and retrieve Bible content.
Overview
Bosca provides a set of Bible tools that can be assigned to AI agents, enabling them to look up Scripture passages, list available translations, browse books, and search references. This means you can build AI assistants that answer questions with actual Bible text rather than relying on the model's training data.
Available Tools
| Tool | What It Does | When an Agent Uses It |
|---|---|---|
| Get Available Bibles | Lists all Bible translations in the system with their IDs, names, and languages | When the agent needs to know which translations are available or help a user choose one |
| List Bible Books | Lists all books in a specific Bible translation with USFM codes and names | When the agent needs to navigate the structure of a Bible or help a user find a book |
| Get Bible Verses | Retrieves the actual text of a passage given a human-readable reference (e.g., "John 3:16") | When the agent needs to quote or discuss a specific Scripture passage |
| Search Bible References | Parses a human-readable reference and returns structured USFM references without fetching the full text | When the agent needs to validate or normalize a reference without retrieving content |
The Bible Agent
Bosca includes a pre-built Bible Agent — an AI assistant configured with all four Bible tools and a prompt that instructs it to be a Bible expert. The agent can:
- Look up any passage when asked (e.g., "What does John 3:16 say?")
- Compare passages across available translations
- Answer questions about Bible structure (books, chapters, verse counts)
- Help users find passages by topic or keyword through conversation
- Provide context about passages using the agent's language model knowledge combined with actual verse text
Building Custom Agents with Bible Tools
Beyond the pre-built Bible Agent, you can assign Bible tools to any custom agent. This enables specialized assistants like:
- Study guide generators — Agents that create study materials around specific passages
- Sermon preparation assistants — Agents that help find related passages and cross-references
- Devotional writers — Agents that generate devotional content anchored to real Scripture
- Translation comparison tools — Agents that show the same passage across multiple translations
- Children's Bible assistants — Agents that explain passages in age-appropriate language
To add Bible tools to an agent, assign the tools in the agent configuration. The agent will automatically discover and use them when Scripture-related questions arise.
How Verse Retrieval Works
When an agent uses the Get Bible Verses tool, the following happens:
- The agent passes a Bible ID and a human-readable reference (e.g., "Genesis 1:1-5")
- The reference is parsed into structured USFM references
- The matching chapter content is retrieved from the database
- The relevant verses are extracted and rendered as plain text with verse markers
- The text is returned to the agent for use in its response
The tool handles verse ranges, entire chapters, and multi-verse references. If a reference cannot be resolved, the tool returns a clear error message so the agent can ask the user to clarify.