Introduction: Agentic Systems

Know the Vocabulary

This lesson uses the terms below many times. Read them once now, and come back here when a later section needs one.

• Agent: A system in which a model chooses some of the next steps while the task is running. Each step can use a tool.
• Workflow: A path of steps that an engineer fixed in advance. A model may do the work inside a step, but it does not choose which step comes next.
• Tool: A function the agent can ask to run, such as one that looks up an order or applies a credit. Each tool has a name, a description, and a list of the inputs it accepts.