The AI agent stack

Autonomous agents plan, call tools, and act over multiple steps. The stack pairs an agent runtime with model tooling, integration glue, and tracing.

Agent runtime - planning, tool use, and multi-step control flow.

When not to use: Don't use an agent loop when a deterministic workflow would do; agents add latency, cost, and non-determinism.

Framework & tooling - prompt/state management and RAG the agent can call.

When not to use: Skip the framework layer if your agent only needs one or two hardcoded tools.

Gateways & SDKs - route across model providers and expose tools (e.g. via MCP).

When not to use: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model.

Tracing - see every step, tool call, and token so failures are debuggable.

When not to use: There is no good reason to run agents in production without tracing.