--- title: What is an AI Agent? | daily.dev description: A basic explainer of what makes an LLM setup an 'AI agent': combining a model, tools (like web search or app integrations), a defined workflow, and... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-an-ai-agent--c96vv62m6 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: What is an AI Agent? | daily.dev og:description: A basic explainer of what makes an LLM setup an 'AI agent': combining a model, tools (like web search or app integrations), a defined workflow, and... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-an-ai-agent--c96vv62m6 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/c96VV62m6.png og:image:alt: What is an AI Agent? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What is an AI Agent? **[Data with Baraa](https://daily.dev/sources/datawithbaraa)** · 1 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A basic explainer of what makes an LLM setup an 'AI agent': combining a model, tools (like web search or app integrations), a defined workflow, and decision-making skills. When the model can choose, skip, react, and decide on its own, it becomes an agent. The ReAct pattern is introduced as the reason-act loop underlying agent behavior, where the AI thinks, acts, observes results, and repeats until the task is complete. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What makes an LLM-based system count as an AI agent rather than just a chatbot? An LLM becomes an agent once it can choose, skip, react, and decide on its own rather than simply responding to a prompt. This requires combining the model with tools such as web search or app connections, a defined workflow, and skills that let it make decisions autonomously during execution. _Explore how developers are building and evaluating agentic systems on daily.dev._ ### What is the ReAct pattern in AI agents? ReAct stands for reason and act, describing a loop where an AI agent thinks about what to do, performs that action, observes the result, and reasons again about the next step. This cycle repeats until the task is finished, allowing the agent to adapt its actions based on intermediate outcomes rather than following a fixed script. _Developers designing agent loops can track patterns like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The Agent Loop: How AI Goes From Answering Questions to Doing Things](https://daily.dev/posts/the-agent-loop-how-ai-goes-from-answering-questions-to-doing-things-5vyyqtwve) · ByteByteGo · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#prompt-engineering](https://daily.dev/tags/prompt-engineering) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-an-ai-agent--c96vv62m6) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"What is an AI Agent?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-an-ai-agent--c96vv62m6","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-an-ai-agent--c96vv62m6"},"datePublished":"2026-09-02T14:06:44.568Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T09:11:36.427Z","description":"A basic explainer of what makes an LLM setup an 'AI agent': combining a model, tools (like web search or app integrations), a defined workflow, and...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o2L4ZCDf91g/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o2L4ZCDf91g/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Data with Baraa","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Data with Baraa","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--LsPWvHOS--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780213377/logos/datawithbaraa?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/datawithbaraa"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-an-ai-agent--c96vv62m6","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"llm,ai-agents,prompt-engineering","timeRequired":"PT1M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"What is an AI Agent?","description":"A basic explainer of what makes an LLM setup an 'AI agent': combining a model, tools (like web search or app integrations), a defined workflow, and...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o2L4ZCDf91g/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-02T14:06:44.568Z","duration":"PT1M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/c96VV62m6","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/o2L4ZCDf91g"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Data with Baraa","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/datawithbaraa"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What is an AI Agent?"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-is-an-ai-agent--c96vv62m6#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What makes an LLM-based system count as an AI agent rather than just a chatbot?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"An LLM becomes an agent once it can choose, skip, react, and decide on its own rather than simply responding to a prompt. 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