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.
agentic loop — The cycle an agent runs in: decide, call a tool, read the result, decide again — repeating until the goal is met or a stop condition fires.
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
Stop conditions expressed as a dollar cap or a step count, plus tool approval that returns control to your code mid-run, are the two guardrailsThe checks around a model that block bad inputs and outputs — filters, validators, and permission rules the model itself can't override.Full definition → most hand-rolled 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 → loops are missing.
