Agents

Overview

This page introduces Agents in the Rufftag ecosystem. Agents are autonomous or semi‑autonomous components that perform tasks, make decisions within scoped policies, and interact with users, data, and other services.

Purpose: encapsulate goal‑oriented behavior with clear inputs/outputs
Scope: each agent owns a bounded context and capabilities
Safety: all actions are mediated by policies and audit trails

Agent Capabilities

Common capabilities an Agent can expose:

Perception: read data from allowed sources (APIs, files, events)
Reasoning: plan steps, evaluate options against constraints
Action: call tools/services with least privilege
Memory: store short‑term context, reference long‑term knowledge
Dialogue: interact with users in natural language where appropriate

Agent Types

Task Agent: executes a finite task from a clear prompt or ticket
Orchestrator: coordinates multiple agents, decomposes goals
Data Agent: focuses on retrieval, enrichment, and validation
Ops Agent: performs operational runbooks with guardrails

Life Cycle

Goal intake: a request or trigger defines the objective
Planning: the agent proposes a plan and requests approval if needed
Action: executes steps using registered tools with policy checks
Review: summarizes outcomes, produces artifacts, logs evidence
Learn: optional feedback to improve next runs

Policies and Trust

All agents operate under explicit policies:

Authentication and attribution for every action
Authorization scoped to the minimal required resources
Observability: structured logs and trace IDs per run
Reproducibility: deterministic configs and pinned tool versions

See also: Privacy and Trust for broader principles.

Integration in Rufftag

Agents can be invoked from the web UI, CLI, or workflows
Structured inputs/outputs (JSON) are preferred for composition
Partial results are surfaced incrementally for a responsive UX

Example: Documentation Curator Agent

Goal: Keep the documentation accurate and tidy.

Inputs: changed files, linter warnings, link check results
Steps: propose edits, open PRs, post status summary
Outputs: PR links, changelog entries, updated site snapshot

FAQ

Are agents always autonomous? Not necessarily; many run with human‑in‑the‑loop approvals.
Can agents access the internet? Only within configured allowlists and rate limits.
How do I add a new agent? Define capabilities, tools, and policies; register it with the orchestrator.