From coding to Knowledge work agents — Karan Vaidya, Composio
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AI Engineer
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AI Engineer
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Terms in this piece · Glossary
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.
context window — The maximum amount of text a model can consider at once — its working memory for the current conversation or task.
guardrails — The checks around a model that block bad inputs and outputs — filters, validators, and permission rules the model itself can't override.
Why it matters
Names the six missing primitives behind knowledge-work AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition → failures, and shows why guardrailsThe checks around a model that block bad inputs and outputs — filters, validators, and permission rules the model itself can't override.Full definition → placed in a prompt disappear when context windowThe maximum amount of text a model can consider at once — its working memory for the current conversation or task.Full definition → is compacted, so the enforcement wall belongs outside the agent.
