Glossary · Updated Sep 2, 2026

AI agent

A system that uses a model to plan and take actions with tools over multiple steps toward a goal, not just answer once.

Definition

An AI agent loops: it reads a goal, decides on an action such as searching, calling an API, editing a file, or asking a question, observes the result, and continues until done. Agents range from support bots that look up orders to coding agents that implement features. Reliability depends on tool design, guardrails, and evaluation.

Why it matters when choosing a tool

Agents can save real work but also act wrongly at scale, so tools marketed as agents should show what actions they can take, how they escalate, and how you audit them.

Where you will meet it

AI Agent & Chatbot Builders, AI Automation & Workflows, AI Coding & Development

Related terms

Agentic workflow · Tool use (function calling) · Guardrails · Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Tools where this matters

Reviewed products in the related categories