AI Operations · Glossary
Variable
Component 6 of the Eight Components of an Interactive Agent. A Variable is authored, not inferred. Named state the agent reads and writes during a session, exposing values to Policies, Routines, Prompts, and Tools.
Variables are the agent's working memory inside a session. A Variable holds a value with a defined name, type, and scope. Policies read Variables to evaluate conditions. Routines read Variables to choose traversal. Prompts read Variables to render context. Tools read and write Variables when called. Variables are session-scoped by default. Persistent state across sessions lives in agent Memory, governed by authored policies (see Memory). Variables are authored, not inferred: a domain expert names the Variables the agent uses, declares their type, and declares which Policies and Routines reference them. Every Variable read and write is recorded in the production trace, supporting per-decision traceability.