AI agents

What an agent is

An AI agent is an assistant configured to achieve a specific goal using context, tools, and controlled permissions.

It should not be a black box. Every agent should have a clear task, clear limits, and traceability for what it did.

When to use one

An agent is useful when the work requires:

• Reading or summarizing information.
• Comparing documents or data.
• Answering questions about a context.
• Preparing an action for human review.
• Coordinating several steps with tools.

If the process is fully deterministic, a traditional automation may be enough.

Guardrails

Each agent should define:

• What it can read.
• What it can modify.
• Which tools it can use.
• What needs human approval.
• Which data it must not process.
• How it reports errors or uncertainty.

Useful metrics

The most important metrics are not only tokens or cost. Also track:

• Completed tasks.
• Time saved.
• Interactions per session.
• Corrected errors.
• Answers accepted by the user.
• Cases escalated to human review.