AI Agent Glossary
24 terms covering autonomous agents, tool use, orchestration, and the tools that power them.
Agent Artifact
A tangible output produced by an AI agent — documents, code, reports, or decisions that persist beyond the conversation.
Agent Chaining
Connecting multiple AI agents in sequence so the output of one becomes the input of the next.
Agent Governance
Systems and rules that constrain, oversee, and validate AI agent actions — vetoes, approvals, and checks.
Agent Loop
The continuous cycle of perceive, reason, act, and reflect that drives autonomous agent behavior.
Agent Memory
Persistent storage that lets agents recall past interactions, learn from experience, and build context over time.
Agent Orchestration
Coordinating multiple agents dynamically — routing tasks, managing state, and handling failures.
Agent Persona
A detailed character definition that shapes an AI agent's communication style, priorities, and decision-making.
Agent Sandbox
An isolated execution environment that constrains what an AI agent can access and modify — preventing unintended side effects.
Agentic Workflow
A multi-step process where an AI agent autonomously plans, executes, and iterates on tasks using tools and reasoning.
Autonomous Agent
An AI system that perceives its environment, makes decisions, and takes actions without continuous human input.
ClawHub
The official skill registry and marketplace for the OpenClaw AI agent platform — "npm for AI agents."
Function Calling
A provider-specific API feature that lets models output structured calls to predefined functions.
LLM Routing
Directing requests to different language models based on task requirements, cost, or availability.
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
An open standard by Anthropic for connecting AI models to external tools and data sources.
Model Fallback
Automatically switching to an alternative LLM when the primary model fails, is unavailable, or returns empty.
Multi-Agent System
An architecture where multiple AI agents collaborate, compete, or coordinate to accomplish tasks.
Ollama
A tool for running open-source LLMs locally — download, configure, and serve models on your own hardware.
OpenClaw
An open-source gateway that connects AI agents to tools and skills across messaging platforms.
OpenRouter
A unified API gateway that provides access to hundreds of LLMs from multiple providers through a single endpoint.
Prompt Engineering
The practice of designing inputs to LLMs to reliably produce desired outputs.
Roundtable Conversation
A structured multi-agent dialogue format where agents take turns discussing a topic, guided by an orchestrator.
Skill Marketplace
A platform where developers publish and discover modular capabilities for AI agents — the "app store" for agents.
Tool Registry
A catalog of capabilities available to AI agents — tools are discovered, validated, and invoked through the registry.
Tool Use (Function Calling)
The ability of an LLM to invoke external functions — APIs, databases, code execution — as part of its reasoning.