Agentic
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
Agentic describes an AI system that acts autonomously — making decisions, taking actions, using tools, and working toward a goal without constant human hand-holding. 'Agentic AI' is the buzzword for AI that does rather than just answers. Claude Code is agentic. It reads files, runs commands, writes code, and decides what to do next.
Real Talk
Agentic AI systems exhibit autonomous, goal-directed behavior involving multiple sequential actions, tool use, and feedback loops. They differ from single-turn chatbots by maintaining state, planning multi-step solutions, and acting on their environment. The agentic paradigm introduces challenges around safety, reliability, and oversight.
When You'll Hear This
"This is agentic — it makes its own decisions." / "Agentic workflows are more powerful but harder to control."
Related Terms
Agent
An AI agent is an LLM that doesn't just answer questions — it takes actions.
Function Calling
Function Calling is the OpenAI term for what Anthropic calls Tool Use — teaching the AI to call your code functions.
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
MCP is like USB for AI — a universal standard for connecting AI models to external tools and data.
Multi-Agent
Multi-agent means multiple AI agents working together, each handling a different task.
Tool Use
Tool use is when an AI can call external functions, APIs, or programs to do things it can't do alone.