Signals

Workflow or agent, and why the distinction matters

The clearest public writing on when an agent loop beats a fixed workflow.

SourceAnthropic Engineering

The clearest answer I have found to whether something should be an agent or a fixed workflow: if the steps are known in advance, write a workflow; if the decision tree only opens up at runtime, write an agent. Reading this made me realise that half of my own setups were agents for no good reason.