Loop

The cycle an agent runs in: look at the situation, pick one next action, take it, read what came back, decide again — round and round until the goal is met or it gets stuck. A chatbot answers once and stops. An agent keeps going. One trip round is usually called a turn.

Why it matters: the loop is the entire difference between a tool you operate and a worker you delegate to — you supply the goal, the loop supplies the steps. It's also where the money and the risk sit. A loop with no stopping condition runs up a bill overnight, and a loop that can't tell "stuck" from "nearly there" will keep trying long after a person would have come to ask you a question.

Related: Agent · Agentic