# AFK

Concept · [Building with AI](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai)

Also called: away from keyboard, A F K, unattended agent, background agent, running overnight

Short for away from keyboard. A way of working where you give an [agent](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent) a task and walk away while it runs on its own, sometimes several at once. It multiplies how much gets done, but the agent will guess whenever something is unclear, so it needs a clear plan before and a careful review after.

**For example:** A [founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) starts three [agents](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent) on separate [tickets](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/backlog) before dinner and reviews their finished work the next morning.

## Connects to (12)

- [Human in the loop](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/human-in-the-loop): Designing an AI process so a person reviews, approves or corrects the AI's work at key steps instead of letting it act alone.
- [Sandbox](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/sandbox): A walled-off space where an agent can run commands and change files without reaching the rest of your computer, your accounts or the open…
- [Permission mode](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/permission-mode): The rules that decide which actions an agent may take on its own and which need your approval first.
- [Spec](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/spec): A written description of what is being built and why, for work too big to finish in one session.
- [Automated check](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/automated-check): A test or rule a computer runs to catch problems without a person looking, such as tests, type checkers and style checkers.
- [Human review](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/human-review): A person reading and approving what an agent produced before it goes live.
- [Software factory](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/software-factory): A way of organizing work where events, not people, start agent sessions.
- [Agent mode](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/agent-mode): A named setting in a coding agent that changes how freely it acts.
- [AX](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ax): Agent experience: how well a project is set up for an AI agent to do good work, with a clear structure, automated checks that catch…
- [Automated review](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/automated-review): Having an AI model read and critique work, usually code, before a person does.
- [Dark factory](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/dark-factory): Part of a product where agents write and ship code that no person ever reviews.
- [Grilling](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/grilling): Having an agent question you one decision at a time until the plan is clear, before any building starts.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/afk