> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.useterse.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Terse vs. AI agents

> How Terse differs from fully autonomous agent platforms.

## Comparison

|               | Fully autonomous agents     | Terse                                      |
| ------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| Mode          | Open-ended exploration      | Deterministic workflow with model judgment |
| Best at       | Broad research, loose tasks | CRM updates, routing, alerts, reporting    |
| Write control | Agent decides               | You decide (`agent.tools.*`)               |
| Observability | Varies                      | Built-in run history, stats, approvals     |
| AI role       | End-to-end autonomy         | Judgment step inside a controlled flow     |

## The Terse pattern

1. **Deterministic fetch:** pull data from your CRM or enrichment API.
2. **Model judgment:** summarize, score, or recommend.
3. **Deterministic write:** update the CRM, post to Slack.

The model handles judgment. Everything else is code you control.

## Choose an agent platform when

* the task is open-ended research or exploration
* the output does not need to land in a specific system every time
* a human supervises the session directly

## Choose Terse when

* the workflow must update your CRM correctly every time
* you need reproducible, auditable behavior around writes
* you want AI inside a system you can test, review, and deploy