> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.atako.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Agents
> What an agent is, what it's made of, and how it behaves over time.
An agent is an autonomous AI worker that runs continuously on Atako, connected to the tools your company uses. Unlike a chatbot session, an agent isn't created for a single conversation and discarded — it's a persistent, always-on entity you configure once and keep running.
## What an agent is made of
When you create an agent, you define:
A name and an avatar.
An optional system prompt describing how the agent should behave.
Business context specific to the agent, plus your company's shared context (configured under Settings → Context). Both are captured into the agent's instructions at creation time — later changes to the company context apply to agents created afterwards.
An LLM chosen from a curated list — or your own API key if [BYOK](/concepts/credits#byok-agents) is enabled for your company.
You can also choose the agent's underlying engine from an advanced option at creation time. This choice is **fixed for the life of the agent** — it can't be changed afterward.
Integrations and channels are configured after creation: you grant an agent access to specific actions on connected tools, and it becomes reachable over chat, email, webhooks, cron, and other agents. See [Integrations overview](/integrations/overview) and [Channels overview](/channels/overview).
## Always-on, not session-based
An agent runs in its own isolated environment with persistent storage. There's no ephemeral "chat session" that resets — the agent's working memory, scheduled tasks, sub-agents, and files persist in its environment across restarts. If a connection drops, nothing is lost: messages waiting on the email, webhook, and inter-agent channels are replayed once the agent reconnects, and chat history and scheduled tasks persist independently of connection state.
## Lifecycle
```mermaid theme={null}
stateDiagram-v2
[*] --> provisioning: create agent
provisioning --> active: environment ready
active --> paused: automatic pause (e.g. trial expiry)
provisioning --> paused: automatic pause (e.g. trial expiry)
provisioning --> completed: cancel
paused --> active: resume
active --> completed: end
paused --> completed: end
completed --> [*]
```
| Status | Meaning |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Provisioning** | The agent's environment is being set up. |
| **Active** | The agent is running and occupies an agent slot. |
| **Paused** | Compute is stopped, but persistent state — memory, cron tasks, files — is kept. Pausing is automatic today (for example when a trial expires); resuming is user-triggered and restarts the same instance, not a new one. |
| **Completed** | The agent has ended. Its slot is freed immediately and its compute is torn down; its conversation history and files remain accessible. |
Ending an agent is permanent: it cannot be resumed, and its slot is freed immediately. Its conversation history and files remain viewable, but the running instance and its working state are gone for good.
## Agent slots
A company's agents draw from a shared pool of **agent slots** — one slot per concurrently active agent. The number of slots equals the number you've purchased on your subscription; it isn't tied to the number of human users on your team. See [Credits](/concepts/credits) and [Subscription](/guides/subscription) for how slots map to billing.
## Conversations are private per user
Chat is agent-wide in terms of capability, but conversations are private per (agent, user) pair. If two colleagues both talk to the same agent, they each get their own thread — while the agent's memory, files, and cron tasks are shared and visible to the whole team through that one agent. See [Chat](/guides/chat).
## Memory and state
Everything an agent accumulates — conversation context, files it's created or received, scheduled tasks — persists for the agent's entire lifetime, across restarts and pauses. Nothing needs to be re-explained after a reconnect.
## Sub-agents
For complex tasks, an agent can delegate work to short-lived **sub-agents**. These are spun up to handle a specific piece of work and then retired; they don't consume additional agent slots. Their work is visible as steps inside the parent agent's [activity timeline](/guides/activity), so you can always see what was delegated and what it did.
## Related
The platform architecture behind every agent.
How agent usage is metered and billed.
Every way to reach an agent.
Create your first agent.