Glossary · AI & Development
AI Agent
A software system that uses an AI model to perceive its environment, make decisions and take actions to achieve a goal over multiple steps.
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An AI agent combines a foundation model with the ability to use tools such as calling APIs, reading files, browsing the web, querying databases, sending emails or triggering other software. The agent runs a loop. Given a goal, it generates a plan, uses a tool, observes the result and decides what to do next. This continues until it achieves the goal or stops. Frameworks like LangChain, LlamaIndex, the Vercel AI SDK and Anthropic's Claude with tool use all support building agents. The Model Context Protocol provides a standard way for agents to discover and call tools.
Sources & further reading
Check the source, not just the summary
- Anthropic building effective agentsanthropic.com
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