Module 2 of 7Lesson 1 of 2~17 min
Decide when an agent is worth its cost
Many teams ask for an agent where a single model call or a workflow would do better, at lower cost and with less risk. This lesson teaches you to judge whether an agent's autonomy truly helps your use case, and to defend your choice in front of the team with clear arguments.
Lesson objective
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to classify a use case as a single call, a workflow or an agent using five explicit criteria, and justify that choice to a team.
Topics covered
- agent vs workflow
- AI agents
- AI use case
- cost of autonomy
- product decision
In the glossary
Where it fits
Agent, workflow or a single call?
Does my use case justify an agent, and if not, which simpler pattern should I choose?
Lessons in this module
- Decide when an agent is worth its cost (this lesson)
- Choose the right workflow pattern
What you will learn in this module
This lesson is part of the course Design reliable agents and tool calling
- Decide, with explicit criteria, whether a use case calls for a single call, a workflow or an agent, and choose the right pattern.
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