# Agentic Workflow

**Category:** general  
**Short Description:** A multi-step process carried out by AI agents that plan, use tools, and adapt to intermediate results with defined human checkpoints.  
**Last Updated:** 2026-07-12T00:00:00Z

## Definition

An agentic workflow is a process in which AI agents — systems built on large language models that can plan, use tools, and evaluate intermediate results — carry out a multi-step task with limited human intervention, adapting their actions to what they find rather than following a fixed script. It differs from traditional automation, which executes predefined rules, and from single-prompt AI use, which produces one output per request. In marketing production, agentic workflows chain steps such as reading a brief, drafting or editing creative against templates, rendering variants, checking outputs against specs, and preparing results for human review and approval.

## Examples

- An agent reads a campaign brief, drafts hook variants, edits a coded video template's props, renders, and queues output for approval
- A reporting agent pulls platform metrics, flags creative fatigue, and proposes which ads to refresh with supporting evidence
- A localization agent adapts a master campaign into five markets, checking each version against placement specs before handoff
- A research agent assembles competitor-creative summaries into a structured input for the next creative sprint

## Key Points

- AI agents plan, use tools, and adapt to intermediate results — not a fixed rule-based script
- Distinct from traditional automation (predefined rules) and from one-shot generative AI (single prompt, single output)
- Effective deployments keep humans at defined checkpoints: strategy in, approval out
- In ad production, agents operate structured substrates — briefs, data, and code-defined templates — end to end

## How AdSights Helps

**Agentic Workflow with AdSights:** The AdSights Ads Framework was built for agentic operation: its video ad templates are code, and its bundled Claude Code skills give an AI agent the structured actions — draft variants, edit template props, batch-render, check specs — that a production workflow needs. The human stays at the two ends that matter: the brief going in and the approval coming out. Paired with performance data, the same loop closes end to end — the agent proposes refreshes based on what is actually fatiguing or winning in-market.

[Explore the AdSights Ads Framework](/frameworks/ads-framework)

## FAQs

### What is an agentic workflow?

An agentic workflow is a multi-step process executed by AI agents — LLM-based systems that can plan a task, call tools (search, code, APIs, renderers), evaluate intermediate results, and adjust course — with humans intervening at defined checkpoints rather than at every step. The defining property is adaptation: instead of following a fixed script, the agent decides its next action based on what the previous action produced.

### How is an agentic workflow different from regular automation?

Traditional automation executes predefined rules: if X, do Y, the same way every time — powerful for stable, repetitive processes but brittle when inputs vary. An agentic workflow substitutes a reasoning model for the fixed script: the agent interprets the goal, chooses tools and steps, handles variation in inputs, and self-corrects when a step fails. The practical difference is scope — automation handles the predictable middle of a process, while agents can also handle the judgment-adjacent steps around it, within limits you set.

### What is the difference between an AI workflow and an AI agent?

A useful engineering distinction (drawn by Anthropic among others): in a workflow, the developer predefines the sequence and the model fills in steps; in an agent, the model itself directs the sequence — deciding what to do next based on results. 'Agentic workflow' spans this spectrum in practice: many production systems are predefined pipelines with agent-directed segments inside them, which delivers most of the value with more predictability than a fully open-ended agent.

### How are agentic workflows used in advertising?

The strongest current uses are production and analysis. On production: agents operate template systems — reading a brief, drafting copy variants, editing code-defined ad templates, batch-rendering sizes and versions, and checking outputs against platform specs before human review. On analysis: agents assemble performance summaries, flag creative fatigue, and propose next tests. Delivery-side optimization (bidding, budgets) remains largely platform automation; the agentic layer is what is changing on the make-the-ads side.

### What are the risks of agentic workflows, and where do humans stay in the loop?

The main risks are compounding errors across steps, confident-but-wrong outputs, and actions taken outside intended bounds. Production deployments manage these structurally: constrain what the agent can touch (templates, staging systems — not live spend), make its work inspectable (code diffs, rendered previews, logs), and place human approval gates before anything ships or spends money. The reliable pattern keeps strategy, brand judgment, and final sign-off human while the agent does the multi-step execution in between.

## Related Terms

### Similar Terms

- **[Marketing Automation](/resources/glossary/general/marketing-automation)**: Rule-based execution of predefined marketing flows; agentic workflows add planning, tool use, and adaptation
- **[Creative Automation](/resources/glossary/creative/creative-automation)**: The production layer agents operate — templates and data pipelines that make ad output systematic
- **[Automated Campaign Management](/resources/glossary/creative/automated-campaign-management)**: Platform-side delivery automation; agentic workflows extend automation to the production side

### Component Terms

- **[AI-Generated Creative](/resources/glossary/creative/ai-generated-creative)**: Generation is one step agents chain with editing, rendering, and checking in a full workflow
- **[Ads as Code](/resources/glossary/creative/ads-as-code)**: Code-defined creative gives agents a substrate they can read, modify, and render reliably

## Related Resources

- [What Are Agentic Workflows? (IBM)](https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/agentic-workflows) - Reference definition covering agent components — reasoning, planning, and tool use
- [Building Effective Agents (Anthropic)](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-effective-agents) - Engineering guidance distinguishing predefined workflows from dynamically self-directed agents
- [AdSights Ads Framework](/frameworks/ads-framework) - An agent-operable ad production system: Claude Code skills that draft, edit, and render coded video templates
- [Agentic Video Ads with Claude Code](/blog/topics/ad-tech/agentic-video-ads-claude-code-ads-framework) - A concrete agentic workflow for video ad production, week by week