diff --git a/docs/pydoc/config/data_classess_api.yml b/docs/pydoc/config/data_classess_api.yml
index 71ea77513a..0a17ce3d4c 100644
--- a/docs/pydoc/config/data_classess_api.yml
+++ b/docs/pydoc/config/data_classess_api.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ loaders:
   - type: haystack_pydoc_tools.loaders.CustomPythonLoader
     search_path: [../../../haystack/dataclasses]
     modules:
-      ["answer", "byte_stream", "chat_message", "document", "streaming_chunk", "sparse_embedding", "tool"]
+      ["answer", "byte_stream", "chat_message", "document", "streaming_chunk", "sparse_embedding",]
     ignore_when_discovered: ["__init__"]
 processors:
   - type: filter
diff --git a/docs/pydoc/config/tool_components_api.yml b/docs/pydoc/config/tool_components_api.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c947f196f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/pydoc/config/tool_components_api.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+loaders:
+  - type: haystack_pydoc_tools.loaders.CustomPythonLoader
+    search_path: [../../../haystack/components/tools]
+    modules: ["tool_invoker"]
+    ignore_when_discovered: ["__init__"]
+processors:
+  - type: filter
+    expression:
+    documented_only: true
+    do_not_filter_modules: false
+    skip_empty_modules: true
+  - type: smart
+  - type: crossref
+renderer:
+  type: haystack_pydoc_tools.renderers.ReadmeCoreRenderer
+  excerpt: Components related to Tool Calling.
+  category_slug: haystack-api
+  title: Tool Components
+  slug: tool-components-api
+  order: 152
+  markdown:
+    descriptive_class_title: false
+    classdef_code_block: false
+    descriptive_module_title: true
+    add_method_class_prefix: true
+    add_member_class_prefix: false
+    filename: tool_components_api.md
diff --git a/docs/pydoc/config/tools_api.yml b/docs/pydoc/config/tools_api.yml
index 449f720f03..35aa7aeff8 100644
--- a/docs/pydoc/config/tools_api.yml
+++ b/docs/pydoc/config/tools_api.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 loaders:
   - type: haystack_pydoc_tools.loaders.CustomPythonLoader
-    search_path: [../../../haystack/components/tools]
-    modules: ["tool_invoker"]
+    search_path: [../../../haystack/tools]
+    modules:
+      ["tool"]
     ignore_when_discovered: ["__init__"]
 processors:
   - type: filter
@@ -13,11 +14,11 @@ processors:
   - type: crossref
 renderer:
   type: haystack_pydoc_tools.renderers.ReadmeCoreRenderer
-  excerpt: Components related to Tool Calling.
+  excerpt: Unified abstractions to represent tools across the framework.
   category_slug: haystack-api
   title: Tools
   slug: tools-api
-  order: 152
+  order: 151
   markdown:
     descriptive_class_title: false
     classdef_code_block: false
diff --git a/haystack/components/generators/chat/hugging_face_api.py b/haystack/components/generators/chat/hugging_face_api.py
index 06aa674f73..50a730a01f 100644
--- a/haystack/components/generators/chat/hugging_face_api.py
+++ b/haystack/components/generators/chat/hugging_face_api.py
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 
 from haystack import component, default_from_dict, default_to_dict, logging
 from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, StreamingChunk, ToolCall
-from haystack.dataclasses.tool import Tool, _check_duplicate_tool_names, deserialize_tools_inplace
 from haystack.lazy_imports import LazyImport
+from haystack.tools.tool import Tool, _check_duplicate_tool_names, deserialize_tools_inplace
 from haystack.utils import Secret, deserialize_callable, deserialize_secrets_inplace, serialize_callable
 from haystack.utils.hf import HFGenerationAPIType, HFModelType, check_valid_model, convert_message_to_hf_format
 from haystack.utils.url_validation import is_valid_http_url
diff --git a/haystack/components/generators/chat/openai.py b/haystack/components/generators/chat/openai.py
index 09e7d9a1fa..251b0b741c 100644
--- a/haystack/components/generators/chat/openai.py
+++ b/haystack/components/generators/chat/openai.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 from haystack import component, default_from_dict, default_to_dict, logging
 from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, StreamingChunk, ToolCall
-from haystack.dataclasses.tool import Tool, _check_duplicate_tool_names, deserialize_tools_inplace
+from haystack.tools.tool import Tool, _check_duplicate_tool_names, deserialize_tools_inplace
 from haystack.utils import Secret, deserialize_callable, deserialize_secrets_inplace, serialize_callable
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
diff --git a/haystack/components/tools/tool_invoker.py b/haystack/components/tools/tool_invoker.py
index 13d556e279..55b363d1d1 100644
--- a/haystack/components/tools/tool_invoker.py
+++ b/haystack/components/tools/tool_invoker.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 from haystack import component, default_from_dict, default_to_dict, logging
 from haystack.dataclasses.chat_message import ChatMessage, ToolCall
-from haystack.dataclasses.tool import Tool, ToolInvocationError, _check_duplicate_tool_names, deserialize_tools_inplace
+from haystack.tools.tool import Tool, ToolInvocationError, _check_duplicate_tool_names, deserialize_tools_inplace
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
diff --git a/haystack/dataclasses/__init__.py b/haystack/dataclasses/__init__.py
index 97f253e805..91e8f0408f 100644
--- a/haystack/dataclasses/__init__.py
+++ b/haystack/dataclasses/__init__.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 from haystack.dataclasses.document import Document
 from haystack.dataclasses.sparse_embedding import SparseEmbedding
 from haystack.dataclasses.streaming_chunk import StreamingChunk
-from haystack.dataclasses.tool import Tool
 
 __all__ = [
     "Document",
@@ -23,5 +22,4 @@
     "TextContent",
     "StreamingChunk",
     "SparseEmbedding",
-    "Tool",
 ]
diff --git a/haystack/tools/__init__.py b/haystack/tools/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9cd887f4e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/haystack/tools/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022-present deepset GmbH <info@deepset.ai>
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+from haystack.tools.tool import Tool, _check_duplicate_tool_names, deserialize_tools_inplace
+
+__all__ = ["Tool", "_check_duplicate_tool_names", "deserialize_tools_inplace"]
diff --git a/haystack/dataclasses/tool.py b/haystack/tools/tool.py
similarity index 92%
rename from haystack/dataclasses/tool.py
rename to haystack/tools/tool.py
index 833c2796ef..3b3e541031 100644
--- a/haystack/dataclasses/tool.py
+++ b/haystack/tools/tool.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 from pydantic import create_model
 
+from haystack.core.serialization import generate_qualified_class_name, import_class_by_name
 from haystack.lazy_imports import LazyImport
 from haystack.utils import deserialize_callable, serialize_callable
 
@@ -89,9 +90,9 @@ def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             Dictionary with serialized data.
         """
 
-        serialized = asdict(self)
-        serialized["function"] = serialize_callable(self.function)
-        return serialized
+        data = asdict(self)
+        data["function"] = serialize_callable(self.function)
+        return {"type": generate_qualified_class_name(type(self)), "data": data}
 
     @classmethod
     def from_dict(cls, data: Dict[str, Any]) -> "Tool":
@@ -103,8 +104,9 @@ def from_dict(cls, data: Dict[str, Any]) -> "Tool":
         :returns:
             Deserialized Tool.
         """
-        data["function"] = deserialize_callable(data["function"])
-        return cls(**data)
+        init_parameters = data["data"]
+        init_parameters["function"] = deserialize_callable(init_parameters["function"])
+        return cls(**init_parameters)
 
     @classmethod
     def from_function(cls, function: Callable, name: Optional[str] = None, description: Optional[str] = None) -> "Tool":
@@ -253,6 +255,12 @@ def deserialize_tools_inplace(data: Dict[str, Any], key: str = "tools"):
         for tool in serialized_tools:
             if not isinstance(tool, dict):
                 raise TypeError(f"Serialized tool '{tool}' is not a dictionary")
-            deserialized_tools.append(Tool.from_dict(tool))
+
+            # different classes are allowed: Tool, ComponentTool, etc.
+            tool_class = import_class_by_name(tool["type"])
+            if not issubclass(tool_class, Tool):
+                raise TypeError(f"Class '{tool_class}' is not a subclass of Tool")
+
+            deserialized_tools.append(tool_class.from_dict(tool))
 
         data[key] = deserialized_tools
diff --git a/test/components/generators/chat/test_hugging_face_api.py b/test/components/generators/chat/test_hugging_face_api.py
index 0d0857e22a..e2158ad6e9 100644
--- a/test/components/generators/chat/test_hugging_face_api.py
+++ b/test/components/generators/chat/test_hugging_face_api.py
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
 from huggingface_hub.utils import RepositoryNotFoundError
 
 from haystack.components.generators.chat.hugging_face_api import HuggingFaceAPIChatGenerator
-from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, Tool, ToolCall
+from haystack.tools import Tool
+from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, ToolCall
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -217,10 +218,13 @@ def test_to_dict(self, mock_check_valid_model):
         assert init_params["streaming_callback"] is None
         assert init_params["tools"] == [
             {
-                "description": "description",
-                "function": "builtins.print",
-                "name": "name",
-                "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
+                "type": "haystack.tools.tool.Tool",
+                "data": {
+                    "description": "description",
+                    "function": "builtins.print",
+                    "name": "name",
+                    "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
+                },
             }
         ]
 
@@ -276,10 +280,13 @@ def test_serde_in_pipeline(self, mock_check_valid_model):
                         "streaming_callback": None,
                         "tools": [
                             {
-                                "name": "name",
-                                "description": "description",
-                                "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
-                                "function": "builtins.print",
+                                "type": "haystack.tools.tool.Tool",
+                                "data": {
+                                    "name": "name",
+                                    "description": "description",
+                                    "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
+                                    "function": "builtins.print",
+                                },
                             }
                         ],
                     },
diff --git a/test/components/generators/chat/test_openai.py b/test/components/generators/chat/test_openai.py
index 677dfa812b..8333608ea6 100644
--- a/test/components/generators/chat/test_openai.py
+++ b/test/components/generators/chat/test_openai.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
 from haystack.components.generators.utils import print_streaming_chunk
 from haystack.dataclasses import StreamingChunk
 from haystack.utils.auth import Secret
-from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, Tool, ToolCall
+from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, ToolCall
+from haystack.tools import Tool
 from haystack.components.generators.chat.openai import OpenAIChatGenerator
 
 
@@ -200,10 +201,13 @@ def test_to_dict_with_parameters(self, monkeypatch):
                 "generation_kwargs": {"max_tokens": 10, "some_test_param": "test-params"},
                 "tools": [
                     {
-                        "description": "description",
-                        "function": "builtins.print",
-                        "name": "name",
-                        "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
+                        "type": "haystack.tools.tool.Tool",
+                        "data": {
+                            "description": "description",
+                            "function": "builtins.print",
+                            "name": "name",
+                            "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
+                        },
                     }
                 ],
                 "tools_strict": True,
@@ -224,10 +228,13 @@ def test_from_dict(self, monkeypatch):
                 "generation_kwargs": {"max_tokens": 10, "some_test_param": "test-params"},
                 "tools": [
                     {
-                        "description": "description",
-                        "function": "builtins.print",
-                        "name": "name",
-                        "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
+                        "type": "haystack.tools.tool.Tool",
+                        "data": {
+                            "description": "description",
+                            "function": "builtins.print",
+                            "name": "name",
+                            "parameters": {"x": {"type": "string"}},
+                        },
                     }
                 ],
                 "tools_strict": True,
diff --git a/test/components/tools/test_tool_invoker.py b/test/components/tools/test_tool_invoker.py
index f492b2c0a1..6c3aab0a8e 100644
--- a/test/components/tools/test_tool_invoker.py
+++ b/test/components/tools/test_tool_invoker.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from haystack import Pipeline
 
 from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, ToolCall, ToolCallResult, ChatRole
-from haystack.dataclasses.tool import Tool, ToolInvocationError
+from haystack.tools.tool import Tool, ToolInvocationError
 from haystack.components.tools.tool_invoker import ToolInvoker, ToolNotFoundException, StringConversionError
 from haystack.components.generators.chat.openai import OpenAIChatGenerator
 
@@ -238,14 +238,17 @@ def test_serde_in_pipeline(self, invoker, monkeypatch):
                     "init_parameters": {
                         "tools": [
                             {
-                                "name": "weather_tool",
-                                "description": "Provides weather information for a given location.",
-                                "parameters": {
-                                    "type": "object",
-                                    "properties": {"location": {"type": "string"}},
-                                    "required": ["location"],
+                                "type": "haystack.tools.tool.Tool",
+                                "data": {
+                                    "name": "weather_tool",
+                                    "description": "Provides weather information for a given location.",
+                                    "parameters": {
+                                        "type": "object",
+                                        "properties": {"location": {"type": "string"}},
+                                        "required": ["location"],
+                                    },
+                                    "function": "tools.test_tool_invoker.weather_function",
                                 },
-                                "function": "tools.test_tool_invoker.weather_function",
                             }
                         ],
                         "raise_on_failure": True,
diff --git a/test/dataclasses/test_tool.py b/test/tools/test_tool.py
similarity index 92%
rename from test/dataclasses/test_tool.py
rename to test/tools/test_tool.py
index 9e112853f3..b7c69a06a7 100644
--- a/test/dataclasses/test_tool.py
+++ b/test/tools/test_tool.py
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 from typing import Literal, Optional
 
 import pytest
-
-from haystack.dataclasses.tool import (
+import copy
+from haystack.tools.tool import (
     SchemaGenerationError,
     Tool,
     ToolInvocationError,
@@ -78,18 +78,24 @@ def test_to_dict(self):
         )
 
         assert tool.to_dict() == {
-            "name": "weather",
-            "description": "Get weather report",
-            "parameters": parameters,
-            "function": "test_tool.get_weather_report",
+            "type": "haystack.tools.tool.Tool",
+            "data": {
+                "name": "weather",
+                "description": "Get weather report",
+                "parameters": parameters,
+                "function": "test_tool.get_weather_report",
+            },
         }
 
     def test_from_dict(self):
         tool_dict = {
-            "name": "weather",
-            "description": "Get weather report",
-            "parameters": parameters,
-            "function": "test_tool.get_weather_report",
+            "type": "haystack.tools.tool.Tool",
+            "data": {
+                "name": "weather",
+                "description": "Get weather report",
+                "parameters": parameters,
+                "function": "test_tool.get_weather_report",
+            },
         }
 
         tool = Tool.from_dict(tool_dict)
@@ -179,14 +185,12 @@ def function_with_annotations(
 
 def test_deserialize_tools_inplace():
     tool = Tool(name="weather", description="Get weather report", parameters=parameters, function=get_weather_report)
-    serialized_tool = tool.to_dict()
-    print(serialized_tool)
 
-    data = {"tools": [serialized_tool.copy()]}
+    data = {"tools": [tool.to_dict()]}
     deserialize_tools_inplace(data)
     assert data["tools"] == [tool]
 
-    data = {"mytools": [serialized_tool.copy()]}
+    data = {"mytools": [tool.to_dict()]}
     deserialize_tools_inplace(data, key="mytools")
     assert data["mytools"] == [tool]
 
@@ -212,6 +216,11 @@ def test_deserialize_tools_inplace_failures():
     with pytest.raises(TypeError):
         deserialize_tools_inplace(data)
 
+    # not a subclass of Tool
+    data = {"tools": [{"type": "haystack.dataclasses.ChatMessage", "data": {"irrelevant": "irrelevant"}}]}
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        deserialize_tools_inplace(data)
+
 
 def test_remove_title_from_schema():
     complex_schema = {