Agentic Workflow
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
An agentic workflow is when you give an AI a goal and let it figure out the steps to get there — breaking down tasks, using tools, making decisions, and iterating until it's done. Instead of you prompting step by step, the AI becomes the driver. 'Deploy this feature' becomes the AI reading code, writing tests, fixing errors, and pushing to production. You supervise. The AI executes.
Real Talk
Agentic workflows are AI architectures where LLMs autonomously plan and execute multi-step tasks by breaking them into subtasks, selecting and using tools, evaluating results, and iterating. Unlike simple prompt-response patterns, agents maintain state across steps, can branch and recover from errors, and orchestrate complex operations. Frameworks include LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, and Claude's tool-use capabilities. Key challenges include reliability, cost control, and human-in-the-loop oversight.
When You'll Hear This
"The agentic workflow handles the entire deploy pipeline — it runs tests, reviews code, and pushes." / "We're moving from prompt chains to agentic workflows for code review."
Related Terms
AI Agent
An AI Agent is an AI system that can think, plan, and act on its own to accomplish a goal.
Chain of Thought (CoT)
Chain of Thought is when you tell the AI 'show your work' like a math teacher.
LLM (Large Language Model)
An LLM is a humongous AI that read basically the entire internet and learned to predict what words come next, really really well.
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.