What is an agentic workflow?
Last reviewed 7 October 2026
An agentic workflow is a business process in which one or more steps are carried out by an AI agent that decides how to complete them, alongside fixed steps and human checkpoints. IBM describes agentic workflows as AI-driven processes where autonomous agents make decisions, take actions and coordinate tasks with minimal human intervention. How much of the process the agent controls varies widely.
Also called: agentic workflows, AI agent workflow, agent workflow.
Why Agentic workflow matters
Rule-based automation breaks when inputs vary. A script that reads a form fails when the form changes, and a workflow with fixed branches cannot handle a case nobody drew. IBM contrasts robotic process automation, which follows predefined rules, with agentic workflows that adapt to real-time data and unexpected conditions. That flexibility is the reason to put agents in a process, and also the reason to put limits around them.
There is a terminology trap here. Anthropic uses “workflow” for the other end of the scale: systems where LLMs and tools are orchestrated through predefined code paths, as distinct from agents that direct their own process. So an “agentic workflow” in one vendor’s language can be a fixed pipeline with model calls, and in another’s a process run mostly by agents. Ask where the decisions are made.
How it works
Most agentic workflows mix three kinds of step. Fixed steps run deterministic logic: fetch a record, transform a field, post to a system. Agent steps hand a goal to a model with tools and let it decide how to reach it. Human steps pause the process for a decision or a correction.
Anthropic lists five patterns that use models inside a fixed structure: prompt chaining, routing, parallelisation, orchestrator-workers and evaluator-optimiser. They make good building blocks because the code still controls the overall shape while the model handles the parts that need language understanding.
The design work is deciding which steps get which kind. A useful rule is to make a step agentic only when you cannot write down its logic in advance, and to place a human step before anything that is hard to undo.
Example: invoice exceptions
An accounts payable team receives invoices that do not match their purchase orders. The workflow starts with fixed steps: read the invoice, look up the purchase order and the goods receipt, and compare the totals. Matching invoices go straight to the payment queue without any model involved.
Mismatches go to an agent step. The agent reads the invoice lines, the order and any email thread with the supplier, and works out the likely cause: a partial delivery, a price change or a duplicate. It writes a short explanation and a proposed resolution.
The workflow then pauses for an AP clerk, who sees the explanation and the evidence and approves, edits or rejects the proposal. Only after approval does a fixed step update the finance system. The agent never posts to the ledger itself.
How Swfte relates to it
Built in the product
Swfte Studio is built for workflows of this shape. Agents, fixed steps and approval steps sit in one visual graph, so the whole process has one version and one trace. A workflow can call any model reachable through Swfte Connect and any system covered by Studio’s tool integrations or reachable by API.
Studio’s approval step pauses a run for a named person and continues on approve or reject. Approvals elsewhere in the platform, such as in Nexus or Cortex, are separate today and do not share one inbox. Swfte is not an RPA tool; if a process depends on driving the screens of a legacy application, that part needs a tool built for it.
Related terms
- Agentic AI
Agentic AI is a style of AI system that works toward a goal with limited supervision, choosing its own next steps and calling tools to act on other systems.
- AI agent orchestration
AI agent orchestration is the coordination of several AI agents, and the tools and people around them, so that they work toward one outcome in a controlled order.
- Human-in-the-loop (HITL)
Human-in-the-loop (HITL) refers to a system in which a person takes an active part in the operation, supervision or decisions of an automated process at defined points.
- AI agent
An AI agent is a software program that uses an AI model to decide what to do next and then acts through tools to reach a goal it was given.
- Workflow
A workflow is the ordered set of steps that takes one piece of work, such as a purchase request or a support ticket, from the event that starts it to a finished outcome.
Common questions
- What is the difference between an agentic workflow and an AI agent?
- An AI agent is one actor with a goal and tools. An agentic workflow is a process that may include one or more agents plus fixed steps and human decisions. The workflow sets the overall order and limits; the agent decides how to complete the steps it is given.
- Are agentic workflows replacing RPA?
- Not wholesale. RPA remains a reasonable choice for stable, rule-bound screen tasks. Agentic workflows suit steps where inputs vary and someone has to read and judge. Many teams keep fixed automation for the predictable parts and add agent steps only where rules kept breaking.
- How do I keep an agentic workflow under control?
- Limit each agent to the tools its step needs, cap steps and spend per run, place approval steps before irreversible actions, and record every step. Test the workflow on real past cases before switching it on, and decide in advance who is alerted when a run fails.
- Do agentic workflows need code?
- Not always. Visual builders let you place agent, fixed and approval steps without writing code, though custom integrations and complex data transformations often still need some. Code-first frameworks give more control at the cost of more maintenance. Choose based on who will own the workflow after launch.
Sources
Definitions on this page were read on the sources below on 7 October 2026. Where sources define the term differently, the page says so. The full glossary lists more terms.