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chore(research): add agent platform research corpus and decision record #485
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| # Research Prompt: What "agent" means in {PRODUCT} | ||
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| Reusable prompt for the agent-definition study. Run once per product. Output | ||
| goes into `docs/research/agent-platform/products/{slug}.md`, following the | ||
| section skeleton below. Add the dossier to `index.md` when done. | ||
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| ## Task | ||
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| Research how **{PRODUCT}** ({URLS}) defines and models an "agent". The goal is | ||
| the operational definition, not marketing copy: what the noun refers to in | ||
| their API, data model, config files, and runtime. This feeds a cross-product | ||
| synthesis on what the industry actually means by "agent". | ||
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| ## Research questions | ||
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| Answer every question the sources can support. Quote primary sources; mark | ||
| gaps as gaps instead of guessing. | ||
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| ### 1. The agent noun | ||
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| - What do the docs/API literally say an agent is? Capture exact quotes. | ||
| - Is the agent a persistent entity (identity, record, resource with an ID) or | ||
| an ephemeral one (a process, a run, an invocation)? | ||
| - Which conceptual model fits best: agent-as-identity, agent-as-config, | ||
| agent-as-process, agent-as-session, agent-as-workspace, other? | ||
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| ### 2. Subagents | ||
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| - Does the product have subagents (child agents, delegated agents, task | ||
| agents, workers)? What are they called? | ||
| - How is a subagent created: declared ahead of time (config/registry) or | ||
| spawned dynamically at runtime by the parent? | ||
| - What does a subagent inherit from its parent (model, tools, permissions, | ||
| context, filesystem, credentials) and what is isolated? | ||
| - Can subagents nest? Is there a depth or fan-out limit? | ||
| - How do parent and subagent communicate: return value only, message passing, | ||
| shared state, shared filesystem? | ||
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| ### 3. Configuration surface | ||
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| - What is configurable on an agent: model, system prompt, instructions, tools, | ||
| permissions, sandbox/environment, memory, secrets/credentials, triggers, | ||
| schedule, resource limits? | ||
| - Where does configuration live: files in a repo, API objects, dashboard, all | ||
| of the above? What format (YAML frontmatter, JSON, code)? | ||
| - **Why** does the product expose each knob? Look for the stated rationale | ||
| (safety, cost, reproducibility, multi-tenancy, team sharing) rather than | ||
| inferring one. | ||
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| ### 4. Binding time | ||
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| - When is each piece of configuration bound: at definition time (static file, | ||
| registered template), at session/run creation, or mutable mid-run? | ||
| - Can an agent's definition change while instances of it are running? What | ||
| happens to in-flight work? | ||
| - Is there versioning of agent definitions? | ||
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| ### 5. Relationships between nouns | ||
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| - Map the product's nouns and their cardinality: agent, subagent, session, | ||
| run, task, thread, sandbox, workspace, workflow, tool. Which contains which? | ||
| Which references which? | ||
| - Specifically: agent-to-session (one agent, many sessions? session owns the | ||
| agent?), agent-to-sandbox (does an agent imply an environment?), and | ||
| agent-to-subagent (ownership, lifetime coupling: does the parent's death | ||
| kill the child?). | ||
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| ### 6. Lifecycle | ||
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| - How is an agent created, started, paused/hibernated, resumed, and destroyed? | ||
| - Who owns the loop: does the product run the agent loop (managed) or does the | ||
| customer's code drive it (bring-your-own-loop)? | ||
| - What persists across runs: memory, filesystem, conversation history? | ||
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| ### 7. The implicit definition | ||
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| - Based on all the above, what makes something "an agent" in this product, | ||
| versus a plain LLM call or a script? State it in one or two sentences, in | ||
| our words, clearly marked as our inference. | ||
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| ## Method | ||
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| 1. Primary sources first: official docs, API reference, SDK source, config | ||
| schemas, official repos. Secondary sources only to triangulate. | ||
| 2. Capture each exact quote as a checked-in source excerpt. Record its direct | ||
| URL, document section or repository symbol, source version or commit when | ||
| available, and retrieval date. Also record an archive or snapshot URL when | ||
| one exists and a content digest when the source publishes or permits one. | ||
| These evidence records must remain auditable if the live URL changes. | ||
| 3. Record the retrieval date with `date +%F`; never guess it. | ||
| 4. Stay on the operational definition. Ignore pricing, marketing claims, and | ||
| features unrelated to the agent model. | ||
| 5. Fill the product skeleton sections in order; do not invent sections. Put | ||
| anything the sources leave unanswered under **Open questions**. | ||
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| ## Output skeleton (per product file) | ||
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| ```markdown | ||
| --- | ||
| title: "{PRODUCT}: what 'agent' means" | ||
| source_urls: [...] | ||
| retrieved: YYYY-MM-DD | ||
| status: done | ||
| --- | ||
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| # {PRODUCT}: what "agent" means | ||
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| Part of [Agent platform research corpus](../index.md). | ||
| Produced by running [RESEARCH_PROMPT](../RESEARCH_PROMPT.md). | ||
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| ## The `agent` noun (primary-source quotes) | ||
| ## Subagents | ||
| ## Configuration surface (what, where, why) | ||
| ## Binding time | ||
| ## Relationships between nouns | ||
| ## Lifecycle | ||
| ## What makes it "an agent" here (our inference) | ||
| ## Open questions | ||
| ``` | ||
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🗄️ Data Integrity & Integration | 🟠 Major | 🏗️ Heavy lift
Define where per-quote provenance is stored.
The method requires auditable metadata for every quote, but the output skeleton only defines aggregate
source_urlsandretrievedfields. Add a standard citation/evidence block to each quote section, or an explicit evidence-record section, covering URL, section/symbol, source version, retrieval date, archive URL, and digest.Also applies to: 111-118
🤖 Prompt for AI Agents