Designing the Agent's Brain (Architecture) › The Agent Loop: A Simple Pattern

At its core, most AI agents follow a straightforward pattern. Let's call it the agent loop:

1. Receive input: The user asks a question or makes a request
2. Update state: Add the input to memory and update what the agent knows
3. Decide: Figure out what to do (use a tool, reason through the problem, or just respond)
4. Act: Execute the decision (call a tool, generate a response, etc.)
5. Respond: Send the result back to the user
6. Repeat: Go back to step 1 for the next interaction

This pattern might sound simple, but it's surprisingly powerful. It gives your agent a clear structure for handling any request, from a basic question to a complex multi-step task.

Let's see what this looks like in practice. We'll start with a minimal version and then build it up.