Eleven concepts for speaking precisely about agents.

AI agent

Agent

A system that pursues an objective by choosing actions, using tools, and observing their results in a bounded loop.

chat assistant

Chatbot

A conversational interface that receives messages and produces responses in an exchange with a user.

automated workflow · orchestrated workflow

Workflow

A predefined sequence of steps in which code or configuration controls the execution path.

Prompt

Text or content supplied to a model to frame the task, context, constraints, and expected output form.

tool call

Tool

A callable operation that lets an agent observe or change a system through an input and output contract.

Agent Skill · SKILL.md

Skill

A versionable directory of instructions and resources that an agent can discover and load to apply a reusable procedure.

MCP · Model Context Protocol

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

An open protocol that standardizes connections between AI applications and servers exposing tools, resources, or prompts.

permission · access control

Authorization

An authorization defines permitted actions on a target; technical enforcement depends on account rights, tools and their environment.

context · context limit

Context window

The content capacity available to the model to process a request and produce its response, measured in tokens.

text token

Token

A unit representing content processed by a model; in text, it may correspond to a word or a fragment.

fabricated answer · false claim

Hallucination

Generated information presented as factual when it is false or inconsistent with supplied material.