What is an agent workflow?
An agent workflow is the series of steps an agent is allowed to run: trigger, lookup, draft, check, and stop. It is the job description plus the path.
In plain English
A prompt is one ask. A workflow is what happens every time the same situation shows up. The agent may choose a branch ('if the amount is missing, stop'). The branches should be few enough that you can explain them to a new hire. Draw the path on paper before you draw it in a product. Box one is the trigger. Box two is the draft. Box three is the person. Anything that spends money or emails a stranger stays in box three until the path has been dull for a week. A workflow with twelve branches on day one is a diagram of your anxiety, not of the job.
How an owner would use it
Draw the path on paper first. Trigger, the one lookup, the draft, the person who approves, the place it is logged. Then build it. If you cannot draw it, do not automate it.
Common mistakes
A workflow with twelve branches nobody can draw on a whiteboard will break the first week a form field changes. Prompt chaining, several prompts in a row, belongs here when the steps are stable, not in a single bloated message. Do not call a pile of chat bookmarks a workflow. If there is no trigger, no stop rule, and no log, it is a habit, and habits do not run on Saturday.
A worked example
A bookkeeper
Weekly cash check
This is an illustration, not a customer result. Every Monday the workflow opens the cash checklist, lists unmatched deposits from the export the bookkeeper dropped in, and drafts questions. It does not categorize a mystery charge. That stays a question for the owner.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What is an agent workflow?
It is the repeatable path an AI agent follows for one business job, including where it must stop and ask a person.
How do I build an agent workflow?
Write the steps as an SOP, pick the trigger, allow only the tools those steps need, and log the result. Use a scheduler or a webhook as the start, not a hope that someone remembers.
How is an agent workflow different from a Zap?
A Zap is one vendor's fixed automation. An agent workflow is the job path, which might be a Zap, a Make scenario, an n8n workflow, or a chat with tools. The path is yours. The product is where you build it.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.