Agents
Create, configure, version, and manage the lifecycle of AI agents in AKOS.
The Agents screen is where you define the AI assistants that power your workflows. Every agent has an identity, a model, a prompt, tools, skills, memory settings, and a lifecycle state.
Agent registry
The registry lists all agents in the workspace. You can switch between card view and list view using the toggle in the toolbar. Use the search box and the filter menu to narrow the list by name, ID, or lifecycle state.
Lifecycle states
Each agent moves through a controlled lifecycle:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | In development; not used by live flows. |
| Active | Deployed and available to flows and triggers. |
| Retired | Decommissioned; preserved for audit. |
To move an agent to the next state, click the Promote or Retire action on its row. A confirmation dialog explains what the transition will do.
Creating an agent
Click New agent in the toolbar. You have four starting options:
- Blank — fill in all fields yourself.
- Template — choose a pre-built template for your vertical (finance, healthcare, legal, etc.).
- Natural language — describe the agent in plain English; AKOS generates a draft you can edit.
- Import — import from a YAML/JSON file or a URL.
Agent form tabs
The new-agent form has two modes: Simple (fewer fields) and Advanced (all fields). Use the toggle in the form header to switch. The form is split into steps:
Basic
- ID — unique slug (lowercase, digits, dashes). Required. Locked after creation.
- Name — display name. Required.
- Description — short summary shown in cards and lists.
- Role — optional role to inherit capabilities and a default model from.
- Risk tier — classification used by governance policies.
Model
Override the LLM provider and model for this agent. Leave blank to inherit from the assigned role. Only connected providers appear in the dropdown. You can type a model name (for example, claude-sonnet-4-6) or leave blank to use the provider's default.
Prompt The agent's system prompt — the standing instructions given to the model at the start of every run. Required.
Skills & Tools
- Skills — high-level named capabilities (for example,
web.search,doc.summarize). You can type a custom skill slug if needed. - Tools — low-level primitives the agent may invoke (for example, HTTP calls, SQL queries, notification sends). Tools are grouped by their integration provider.
Memory Choose how the agent maintains conversation history:
| Mode | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| None | No per-agent memory; uses the workspace default if configured. |
| Ref | Points to a named workspace memory slot. |
| Inline | Defines its own memory backend (file, SQLite, Redis, vector store). |
For inline memory, fill in the backend-specific fields (path, Redis URL, vector provider, collection, dimensions, embeddings model).
Advanced Additional settings for timeouts, retry policy, and output schema (available in Advanced mode).
Click Create draft to save the agent in draft state. You can review and submit from any step using Next / Back.
Editing an agent
Click Edit on any agent row or card. The same multi-step form opens with the agent's current values. The ID field is locked because changing an agent's ID would break all references to it.
Testing an agent (sandbox)
Click Test on an agent to open the Sandbox drawer. Enter a test prompt and run the agent in isolation. The result panel shows the model's response, tool calls made, and cost.
Version history
Click Versions on an agent to open the Version history drawer. This shows every saved snapshot of the agent, with timestamps and the actor who made each change.
- Select a version in the left panel to see a diff against the current live version in the right panel.
- To roll back, click Rollback next to the version you want. You will be asked to enter an optional reason. The rollback mints a new version pointing back at the selected snapshot — no history is lost.
Bulk operations
Check multiple agents in list view to activate the bulk toolbar. You can promote or retire a selection of agents at once, or delete a set of drafts.