diff --git a/metagpt/tools/tool_convert.py b/metagpt/tools/tool_convert.py
index 42c65b9e7..d366bef41 100644
--- a/metagpt/tools/tool_convert.py
+++ b/metagpt/tools/tool_convert.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ PARSER = GoogleDocstringParser
 
 def convert_code_to_tool_schema(obj, include: list[str] = None):
     docstring = inspect.getdoc(obj)
-    assert docstring, "no docstring found for the objects, skip registering"
+    # assert docstring, "no docstring found for the objects, skip registering"
 
     if inspect.isclass(obj):
         schema = {"type": "class", "description": remove_spaces(docstring), "methods": {}}
diff --git a/metagpt/tools/tool_registry.py b/metagpt/tools/tool_registry.py
index 11269cb0f..e3d270b79 100644
--- a/metagpt/tools/tool_registry.py
+++ b/metagpt/tools/tool_registry.py
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@
 """
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import importlib.util
 import inspect
 import os
 from collections import defaultdict
-from typing import Union
 
 import yaml
 from pydantic import BaseModel
@@ -127,15 +127,63 @@ def make_schema(tool_source_object, include, path):
     return schema
 
 
-def validate_tool_names(tools: Union[list[str], str]) -> str:
+def validate_tool_names(tools: list[str]) -> dict[str, Tool]:
     assert isinstance(tools, list), "tools must be a list of str"
     valid_tools = {}
     for key in tools:
-        # one can define either tool names or tool type names, take union to get the whole set
-        if TOOL_REGISTRY.has_tool(key):
+        # one can define either tool names OR tool tags OR tool path, take union to get the whole set
+        # if tool paths are provided, they will be registered on the fly
+        if os.path.isdir(key) or os.path.isfile(key):
+            valid_tools.update(register_tools_from_path(key))
+        elif TOOL_REGISTRY.has_tool(key):
             valid_tools.update({key: TOOL_REGISTRY.get_tool(key)})
         elif TOOL_REGISTRY.has_tool_tag(key):
             valid_tools.update(TOOL_REGISTRY.get_tools_by_tag(key))
         else:
             logger.warning(f"invalid tool name or tool type name: {key}, skipped")
     return valid_tools
+
+
+def load_module_from_file(filepath):
+    module_name = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(filepath))[0]
+    spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(module_name, filepath)
+    module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+    spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+    return module
+
+
+def register_tools_from_file(file_path) -> dict[str, Tool]:
+    registered_tools = {}
+    module = load_module_from_file(file_path)
+    for name, obj in inspect.getmembers(module):
+        if inspect.isclass(obj) or inspect.isfunction(obj):
+            if obj.__module__ == module.__name__:
+                # excluding imported classes and functions, register only those defined in the file
+                if "metagpt" in file_path:
+                    # split to handle ../metagpt/metagpt/tools/... where only metapgt/tools/... is needed
+                    file_path = "metagpt" + file_path.split("metagpt")[-1]
+
+                TOOL_REGISTRY.register_tool(
+                    tool_name=name,
+                    tool_path=file_path,
+                    tool_code="",  # inspect.getsource(obj) will resulted in TypeError, skip it for now
+                    tool_source_object=obj,
+                )
+                registered_tools.update({name: TOOL_REGISTRY.get_tool(name)})
+
+    return registered_tools
+
+
+def register_tools_from_path(path) -> dict[str, Tool]:
+    tools_registered = {}
+    if os.path.isfile(path) and path.endswith(".py"):
+        # Path is a Python file
+        tools_registered.update(register_tools_from_file(path))
+    elif os.path.isdir(path):
+        # Path is a directory
+        for root, _, files in os.walk(path):
+            for file in files:
+                if file.endswith(".py"):
+                    file_path = os.path.join(root, file)
+                    tools_registered.update(register_tools_from_file(file_path))
+    return tools_registered
diff --git a/metagpt/utils/parse_docstring.py b/metagpt/utils/parse_docstring.py
index 63c0e6890..5df4d6671 100644
--- a/metagpt/utils/parse_docstring.py
+++ b/metagpt/utils/parse_docstring.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from typing import Tuple
 
 
 def remove_spaces(text):
-    return re.sub(r"\s+", " ", text).strip()
+    return re.sub(r"\s+", " ", text).strip() if text else ""
 
 
 class DocstringParser: