What are agentic workflows?
The night before a recent week-long vacation, my home air conditioning stopped working. Which is, of course, the perfect time for that to happen. I called my usual handyman in a panic, and he fixed it while I was gone-but he also wiped off the outdoor unit, replaced my filter, and even replaced some light switch panels that I had been meaning to get to for weeks.
Key Takeaways
- Agentic workflows are processes where AI agents can complete tasks independently without human intervention.
- I'd given him a problem, and he fixed it; alongside a handful of other tasks he knew needed repair.
- An agentic workflow is an AI-driven process where one or more AI agents make decisions, take actions, and coordinate tasks toward a goal with minimal human intervention.
It reasons about what should happen next, calls whatever tools it needs, checks the result, and tries something else if the first attempt flops.
- Non-agentic workflows (often called deterministic workflows) follow predefined rules: a trigger fires, a fixed sequence of actions runs in order, and the task is completed.
They can use filters and conditional logic, but they can't reason through things.
- They adapt to real-time data and unexpected conditions, deciding what to do next based on what's really in front of them rather than what someone guessed might happen back when they built it.
Three phases to move from disconnected AI pilots to orchestrated systems that scale. The night before a recent week-long vacation, my home air conditioning stopped working. Which is, of course, the perfect time for that to happen.
I called my usual handyman in a panic, and he fixed it while I was gone-but he also wiped off the outdoor unit, replaced my filter, and even replaced some light switch panels that I had been meaning to get to for weeks. I'd given him a problem, and he fixed it; alongside a handful of other tasks he knew needed repair. Historically, most software has never worked that way.
It waits for you to spell out every click, and the moment something unexpected turns up, it stops and pings you for help. Agentic workflows can follow a fixed script, but they can also take a goal and figure out how to reach it, making decisions, using tools, and adjusting as they go. Here, I'll tell you everything you need to know about agentic workflows, how they work, and how Zapier can help you build them securely.
For more details please read the original article at Zapier AI Blog.
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