What do you need before you build an agent?#
You need one job that keeps coming back. Lead follow-up, overdue invoices, meeting prep and support triage are the classic first picks because they repeat every week and follow the same pattern each time. Write the job down the way you would brief a new hire: what comes in, what a good result looks like, and where it should land.
Not sure which job to hand off first? Put a number on the ones you have. The calculator below shows what a recurring task costs you in hours and dollars each month. The biggest number is your first agent.
How do I build an AI agent step by step?#
Guided turns a plain sentence into a wired workflow. The whole path runs through three stages on screen: Describe the job, Review the workflow, and Choose what happens next.
Your first agent, start to launch
Step 1: Describe the job
Choose Describe it and type the outcome you want, for exampleOpen GuidedText me the moment a hot lead comes in. Press Start guided build.Step 2: Answer the setup questions
Agent Studio asks what it needs to know, one question at a time. Reply and press Send answer. Workspaces with credit get an interview that reads your answers and asks only what your particular workflow needs.Step 3: Review the workflow
The review screen lists The steps in order, with the tool each one uses. Fill in the Job brief and an Expected output so the goal travels with the agent. Want something different? Press Change anything and say what to adjust.Step 4: Open it on the canvas
Press Open on canvas. Agent Studio saves the draft and opens it in Studio with every step wired, so you can connect your tools and fine-tune prompts.Step 5: Run a free test
Press Run test. Every step streams its result into the run dock and nothing spends credit. Fix anything that looks off and run it again. See Test your agent free for what a dry run proves.Step 6: Save a version and launch
Open Versions and press Save version to freeze a checkpoint, then launch. Your agent shows up on your dashboard with its own page and starts working on its trigger.Open your agents
Should I start from a template or a blank canvas?#
Start from whichever door matches what you already know. The start page offers all three side by side.
| Start with | Pick it when | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Describe it | You know the job and want Agent Studio to work out the steps | Guided |
| Start from a template | A ready-made agent already does most of the job | Templates |
| Blank canvas | You want to place and wire every step yourself | Studio |
What does a working agent look like inside?#
Every agent is a flow of steps called nodes, joined by connections that carry data from one step to the next. The smallest useful agent has three: Input takes what comes in, LLM (Claude) does the thinking, and Output returns the result. Real agents add more:
- A trigger, such as Schedule, Webhook or CRM Trigger, so the agent starts itself. See Triggers and schedules.
- AI steps such as Classify and Extract Fields that sort and pull structure out of messy text.
- Logic such as Branch, Switch and Loop that route each case down the right path.
- Action steps such as Send Text, Send Email, Create Task and Slack Message that do the work where your team already lives.
The full catalog, with what each node does and costs, is in the node reference.
- 3 ways inDescribe it, Start from a template, or Blank canvas
- 4 stagesCreate, Configure, Test and Launch, shown on the canvas as you go
- $0to build, edit, save versions and run dry-run tests
What does it cost to build and test an agent?#
Building costs nothing. Drafting, editing, saving versions and dry-run tests are all free. Live runs draw from your prepaid credit, so you pay for real work your agent does and nothing for the hours you spend getting it right. Current rates are on the pricing page.