--- title: "What is an AI agent?" description: "**Canonical URL:** https://jobspipe.dev/answers/what-is-an-ai-agent" canonical: https://jobspipe.dev/answers/what-is-an-ai-agent last_updated: 2026-09-10 --- # What is an AI agent? > An AI agent is a program built around a language model that works toward a goal on its own: it plans steps, calls tools such as APIs, search or code execution, reads what comes back, and repeats until the task is done. A chatbot answers one message. An agent runs a loop of decisions and actions. **Canonical URL:** https://jobspipe.dev/answers/what-is-an-ai-agent **Topic:** MCP and AI agents (https://jobspipe.dev/mcp-server) The parts are always the same. A model does the reasoning. A set of tools gives it hands: each tool has a name, a description and a typed input, and the model decides when to call one. A loop feeds every tool result back into the model's context so the next decision is informed by the last. Memory, whether a scratchpad in the context window or an external store, carries state across steps. Guardrails decide what the agent may do without asking a person. Everything else, from coding assistants to sourcing bots, is this pattern with a different toolset. The tools are where live data enters. A model on its own knows nothing about postings published this morning, so an agent that sources candidates, monitors hiring or builds a job board needs a tool that queries a current index. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) standardizes that connection: a server exposes tools, and the agent's client lists and calls them. JobsPipe's hosted MCP server at mcp.jobspipe.dev exposes search_jobs, detect_company_tech_stack, list_pricing_plans and search_documentation, so an agent in Claude Code, Cursor or another MCP client can filter live postings by title, country, remote, seniority or skills without any custom integration code. For agents that have a shell instead of an MCP client, the same data is reachable through the jobspipe-cli package or a plain POST to /v1/jobs/search, and the setup steps are published for the agent itself to read at jobspipe.dev/agents.md. The point is the same either way: an agent is only as useful as the data its tools can reach. ## Related questions ### What AI agents are there? Common categories: coding agents such as Claude Code, Cursor and GitHub Copilot's agent mode; browser and computer-use agents that operate a screen; research agents that search and synthesize; customer support agents wired into a helpdesk; and workflow agents built on frameworks like the Anthropic Agent SDK, the OpenAI Agents SDK or LangGraph. Vertical agents for sourcing, sales research or job-board curation are the same pattern with domain tools. ### Are AI agents free? Some are. Most agent frameworks are open source and cost nothing to install, but running one consumes model tokens, so the meter is the model provider's bill. Hosted agents inside chat products come with the subscription. The data tools an agent calls have their own terms: JobsPipe's free tier covers 1,000 jobs a month, and its sandbox endpoint answers without a key. ### What is the difference between an AI agent and a chatbot? A chatbot produces one reply per message from what is in its context. An agent decides on actions, executes them through tools, reads the results and keeps going without a new prompt. The model can be the same; the difference is the loop around it and the tools it is allowed to call. ### Do AI agents need MCP? No. Any agent can call tools defined directly in code through the model's function-calling interface. MCP matters when you want a tool to be reusable across agents and products: write the server once and every MCP client, from Claude Code to Cursor, can connect to it. JobsPipe offers both routes, the MCP server for clients and the REST API for custom loops. ## More answers - [How do AI agents work?](https://jobspipe.dev/answers/how-do-ai-agents-work) - [What is MCP in AI?](https://jobspipe.dev/answers/what-is-mcp-in-ai) - [What does an AI agent do?](https://jobspipe.dev/answers/what-does-an-ai-agent-do) Data behind these answers is published as shares only; every figure can be reproduced against the JobsPipe API (https://jobspipe.dev/jobs-api). --- AI agents: the full machine-readable index of this site is https://jobspipe.dev/llms.txt?src=md-twin - API quickstart, no-key sandbox (POST https://api.jobspipe.dev/v1/sandbox/jobs/search), MCP server, pricing. Free key: https://jobspipe.dev/signup