A comprehensive breakdown of the 5 fundamental building blocks that define how every AI agent operates
Every AI agent consists of five core components working together. Understanding each component deeply enables you to design sophisticated, effective agents for any workflow pattern.
The agent's identity, role, and behavioral boundaries
Purpose: Define who the agent is, what it does, and how it communicates
The persona component shapes the agent's identity and establishes expectations for its behavior. It's implemented primarily through system prompts that define the agent's role, expertise, communication style, and operational boundaries.
"You are an experienced customer support specialist for TechCorp's SaaS platform. You have deep knowledge of our product features, billing system, and common technical issues. Your communication style is warm, empathetic, and solution-oriented. Always acknowledge the customer's frustration, provide clear step-by-step solutions, and escalate to engineering if the issue requires code-level debugging. Never share internal system details or make promises about future features. Format all responses with clear headings and use bullet points for multi-step instructions."
The information sources the agent can access and utilize
Purpose: Provide the agent with the data it needs to generate accurate, relevant responses
An agent's knowledge comes from multiple layers, each serving different purposes and having different trade-offs in terms of currency, cost, and specificity.
The approach for communicating instructions and context to the LLM
Purpose: Optimize how the agent interprets tasks and generates responses
How you structure prompts dramatically affects agent behavior and output quality. Different techniques work better for different types of tasks.
# Example: Structured Prompting with CoT
prompt_template = """
## ROLE
You are a senior data analyst specializing in customer behavior analysis.
## CONTEXT
{retrieved_customer_data}
## TASK
Analyze the customer data above and identify the top 3 factors
driving churn for the enterprise segment.
## REASONING APPROACH
Use Chain-of-Thought reasoning:
1. First, examine patterns in the data
2. Identify correlations between factors and churn
3. Rank factors by impact strength
4. Explain your reasoning for each factor
## OUTPUT FORMAT
Return a JSON object with this structure:
{{
"top_factors": [
{{
"factor": "factor name",
"impact_score": 0-100,
"reasoning": "explanation"
}}
]
}}
## CONSTRAINTS
- Focus only on enterprise segment (>100 employees)
- Use statistical significance (p < 0.05) as threshold
- Do not include speculative factors without data support
"""
result = llm.complete(prompt_template.format(
retrieved_customer_data=data
))
The capabilities that enable agents to interact with external systems and perform actions
Purpose: Give agents "hands and feet" to accomplish tasks beyond text generation
Tools extend an agent's capabilities beyond language generation, allowing it to retrieve real-time data, manipulate information, interact with systems, and coordinate with other agents. Without tools, agents are limited to synthesizing their training knowledge.
# Example: Agent with Tool Integration
class CustomerSupportAgent:
def __init__(self):
self.tools = {
"search_knowledge_base": self.search_kb,
"get_customer_history": self.get_history,
"create_ticket": self.create_ticket,
"send_email": self.send_email
}
def search_kb(self, query):
# RAG: Search internal knowledge base
results = vector_db.search(query, top_k=3)
return results
def get_history(self, customer_id):
# Database: Fetch customer interaction history
history = db.query(
"SELECT * FROM interactions WHERE customer_id = ?",
customer_id
)
return history
def run(self, customer_query, customer_id):
# Agent decides which tools to use via ReAct pattern
context = self.get_history(customer_id)
kb_results = self.search_kb(customer_query)
response = self.generate_response(
query=customer_query,
context=context,
knowledge=kb_results
)
return response
How the agent receives input and delivers output
Purpose: Define the communication interfaces and data exchange patterns
Interaction patterns determine how agents connect with users, systems, and other agents. Well-designed interaction interfaces make agents more usable and integrate better into workflows.
# Example: Flexible Interaction Interface
class AgentInterface:
def __init__(self, agent):
self.agent = agent
# Synchronous text interaction
def chat(self, message: str) -> str:
response = self.agent.run(message)
return response.text
# Synchronous structured interaction
def api_call(self, request: dict) -> dict:
response = self.agent.run(request)
return response.to_json()
# Asynchronous processing
async def process_batch(self, items: list) -> str:
job_id = create_job()
for item in items:
await self.agent.run_async(item)
return job_id
# Streaming response
def stream_response(self, message: str):
for chunk in self.agent.run_stream(message):
yield chunk.text
# Inter-agent communication
def delegate_to_agent(self, task: dict, target_agent):
result = target_agent.execute(task)
return result
The five components don't operate in isolationβthey're deeply interconnected, with each influencing and depending on the others.
Be specific about role, boundaries, and style
Layer strategically from general to specific
Structure clearly, use examples liberally
Provide only what's needed, describe clearly
Design for your use case, handle errors well