Agents and automation
AI that acts, not merely answers. Agents, workflows, orchestration, augmented automation: the operational patterns and their guardrails.
- Agent orchestrationAI agent orchestration is the coordination of several specialised agents, each responsible for part of a complex task, so they collaborate towards a common goal. A central orchestrator (or a supervisor agent) distributes the sub-tasks, supervises their execution, and aggregates the results.
- Agentic loopThe agentic loop is the iterative cycle of an AI agent that acts, observes the result, and decides on the next action, until it reaches its goal or a stopping criterion. Without limits or observability, it can diverge into an infinite loop and consume in a few minutes the equivalent of several days of normal use.
- AI agentAn AI agent is an autonomous system that combines a language model with external tools to execute multi-step tasks: it analyses a request, plans an action sequence, executes, observes, and adapts its strategy. It differs from an assistant that merely responds.
- AI agent platformAn AI agent platform is an environment that allows enterprises to create, deploy, and operate autonomous AI agents. Three families exist in 2026: developer SDKs (Claude Agent SDK, LangGraph, AutoGen), no-code platforms (n8n, Make, Microsoft Copilot Studio), and self-hosted open-source integrated products (OpenClaw, OpenHands).
- AI workflowAn AI workflow is the structured sequence of several AI inference steps to accomplish a complex task, usually with external tools interleaved. It can be pre-defined (linear chain) or dynamic (orchestrated by an agent), and is the dominant operational mode of mature AI deployments in enterprise.
- Augmented automationAugmented automation is the use of AI to assist a human worker in performing a task, rather than to replace them. The human remains decision-maker and responsible, the AI accelerates, prepares, or validates. It is the dominant mode in 2026 for tasks with legal, creative, or relational stakes.
- Autonomous Claude CodeIn autonomous mode, you no longer drive every step of Claude Code: you set a stop condition once, and an evaluator checks it after each turn until the work is genuinely finished. Four levers make this loop automatic: /goal, /loop, /schedule and Stop hooks.
- Claude CodeClaude Code is Anthropic's developer CLI tool, launched in preview in February 2025 and generally available in May 2025. It implements an autonomous coding agent that reads, writes, and executes code via the Claude API. To distinguish from the Claude model itself: Claude Code is the tool, Claude the model that drives it.
- CopilotAn AI copilot is an assistant that suggests, proposes, and completes actions to the user, who keeps control of the final decision and execution. It is distinct from the AI agent, which executes autonomously. The copilot is a prudent mode of use, the agent a delegated mode of use.