Agentic workflow
A workflow where one or more steps are performed by a reasoning agent instead of fixed logic. Traditional automation branches on rules written in advance; an agentic workflow can read, judge and decide at the points where rules run out.
Where rule chains break
Traditional automation encodes decisions in advance: if the field equals this, branch there. That works until an input arrives that nobody predicted, and then the chain either does the wrong thing confidently or stops dead. Most of the maintenance cost of a mature automation estate is the accumulated patching of cases the original author could not have known about.
Putting judgment only where judgment is needed
The mistake is assuming the answer is agents everywhere. It is not. Deterministic nodes are faster, cheaper and perfectly predictable, and most steps in a workflow genuinely are deterministic. The design skill is identifying the two or three points where a real decision happens and spending reasoning there — leaving the rest as plain, cheap, boring logic.
Why verification comes with the territory
The moment a step in your workflow exercises judgment, "did it run?" stops being a sufficient question. You need to know what it read, what it concluded and why. This is why agentic workflows and execution receipts arrived together: one is not deployable in a serious operation without the other.
In AGNT
AGNT’s canvas mixes deterministic nodes with agent steps, so the routine stays cheap and the judgment calls get a mind.
Agentic workflow — common questions
How is an agentic workflow different from RPA?
RPA replays recorded interactions against a user interface and shatters when a button moves. An agentic workflow acts through APIs and reasons about what it finds, so it adapts to variation instead of breaking on it.
Does every step need to be an agent?
No, and it should not be. Use fixed logic for anything with a knowable rule and reserve agent steps for the points where the rules genuinely run out. That keeps runs fast, cheap and explainable.
Where should a team start with agentic workflows?
One recurring job that is annoying, describable and low-blast-radius — report assembly, inbox triage, lead research. Prove the receipt loop on that, then widen scope.