Agent Definition
Plain definition: An agent is a "virtual assistant that thinks for itself to get things done."
Core capabilities: planning, tool selection, tool execution, and summarization.
More formal definition: An entity that can autonomously perceive its environment and take actions to achieve goals.
Agent vs Workflow
In one sentence: An agent uses tools to autonomously figure out how to solve problems; a workflow follows preset steps and executes in a fixed way.
Analogy
- Agent: like an intelligent assistant that understands your intent and figures out how to solve problems on its own
- Workflow: like an assembly line that runs in a preset sequence of steps, suited to standardized processes
When to Use Which
- Agent: suited to tasks that need intelligent decision-making
- Workflow: suited to standardized, repetitive, fixed-process tasks
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