Reader: Agentic UI glossary

Short glossary for the course Intro to Agentic UI patterns

1. Terms

Agent. Software that plans steps and acts on the user's behalf.

Dry run. The agent does the work as a draft and shows the result without changing anything, so the user can judge it first.

Human in the loop. The user approves an action before the agent performs it.

Streaming. Showing a result while it is still being produced.

2. Patterns in one line

• Dry run: plan, draft result, adjust, then decide.
• Approval step: what, why, preview, then approve, change or cancel.
• Step list: the plan, with each finished step ticked off.
• Undo and history: a way back, and a log the user can read.