What Are Agents?

Background agents are AI assistants that run automatically without your direct involvement. They're like having a smart assistant who works around the clock.

The Basics

How Agents Differ from Chat

Chat	Agent
You start the conversation	Agent runs automatically
Real-time interaction	Works in the background
One-time tasks	Recurring or triggered tasks
You're always present	Works while you're away

What Agents Can Do

Agents can:

Access your connected apps - Read emails, check calendars, post to Slack
Process information - Summarize, analyze, transform data
Take actions - Send messages, create documents, update records
Make decisions - Use AI reasoning to handle variations
Notify you - Send results via email or notification

What Agents Can't Do

Agents cannot:

Access apps you haven't connected
Make purchases or financial transactions (without explicit approval)
Access your computer's local files
Continue indefinitely (there's a timeout)
Run without any trigger

How Agents Work

Trigger Activates

Something starts the agent:

A scheduled time (e.g., 9 AM daily)
A webhook call (e.g., from another app)
A manual trigger (you click "Run Now")

Agent Receives Instructions

The agent loads its configuration:

The instructions you wrote
The AI model to use
The tools and integrations it can access

Agent Executes

The AI works through your instructions:

Reads from connected apps if needed
Processes information
Takes actions you've authorized

Agent Reports Results

When done, the agent:

Logs what it did
Sends notifications if configured
Stores the result for you to review

Agent Components

Every agent has these parts:

1. Instructions (Prompt)

What you want the agent to do, written in plain language:

Check my Gmail inbox for emails from clients.
Summarize any urgent messages.
Post the summary to the #client-updates Slack channel.

2. AI Model

The brain powering your agent. Different models for different needs:

GPT-4o - Good for most tasks
Claude 4 Sonnet - Great for writing and analysis
GPT-4o Mini - Fast and efficient for simple tasks

3. Tools & Integrations

What the agent can access:

Email - Gmail, Outlook
Calendar - Google Calendar
Messaging - Slack, Discord
Productivity - Notion, Google Docs
Development - GitHub, Linear

4. Trigger

When and how the agent runs:

Schedule - Daily at 9 AM, every Monday, etc.
Webhook - When called by another app
Manual - When you click Run

5. Notifications

How you're informed:

Email - Get results sent to your inbox
In-app - See notifications in Billix
None - Silent operation, check logs manually

Real-World Examples

Morning Briefing Agent

Instructions:
Every morning at 7 AM:
1. Check my Gmail for unread emails
2. Summarize any messages that need my attention
3. Check my calendar for today's meetings
4. Send me an email with the briefing

Trigger: Daily at 7:00 AM
Model: Claude 4 Sonnet
Tools: Gmail, Google Calendar
Notification: Email

PR Monitor Agent

Instructions:
When a new PR is opened in our GitHub repo:
1. Read the PR description and changes
2. Post a summary to #engineering Slack
3. Tag the team lead if it's a large PR

Trigger: Webhook from GitHub
Model: GPT-4o
Tools: GitHub, Slack

Weekly Report Agent

Instructions:
Every Friday at 5 PM:
1. Gather data from our Notion workspace
2. Calculate key metrics for the week
3. Create a formatted report
4. Post to the #reports channel

Trigger: Weekly, Fridays at 5 PM
Model: GPT-4o
Tools: Notion, Slack