What's an agent, anyway?
Let's start with the simplest version. By the end of this station, you'll have one clean sentence in your head that explains what an agent is, and you'll be able to spot one in the wild.
It reads.
Looks at one specific thing on a schedule. Your inbox. Yesterday's sales. A folder.
It decides.
Applies simple rules to what it found. Sort. Compare. Summarise. Flag.
It posts.
Sends one short answer somewhere a human will see it. Slack. Email. A doc.
The best agents are the boring ones. The ones you stop noticing because they just work, quietly, in the background. If your agent is dramatic or surprising, something is wrong.
An agent is not a chatbot.
Calm and focused
Wakes up, does one job, posts one answer, goes back to sleep. You don't talk to it.
Busy and reactive
Waits for someone to message it. Has to handle whatever comes in, in real-time.
An agent is not a script either.
Thinks about it
Looks at the input, makes a small judgement, can refuse if something looks wrong.
Just runs
Does the same thing every time, no matter what comes in. No judgement, no refusal.
What it actually looks like.
Here's one whole working day for one small agent. Four panels. Five minutes of actual computer time, total.
What's one repetitive task in your week?
It doesn't have to be glamorous. It should be the boring 5-minute thing you do 50 times. Hold it in your head. We'll come back to it at every station.
Foundation Friend
Your first sticker. Eight more to collect.