# Agent environment

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

Also called: environment (AI agent), agent's environment, agent workspace, the agent's world

Everything outside the [agent](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent)'s own software that it can look at or change: your files, [terminal](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terminal), [browser](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/web-browser), [databases](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/database) and connected services. The agent knows this world only through what its tools report back, so a tidy, clearly labeled project helps it work better. This is a different idea from a [staging](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/environment) or [production environment](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/production).

**For example:** An [agent](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent) can only fix a broken checkout if its [environment](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/environment) includes the code and a way to run the tests.

## Connects to (8)

- [AI agent](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent): An AI tool that does more than answer a question.
- [Tool use](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/tool-use): A way for a model to ask the software around it to run a defined action, such as a search or a database lookup, and send back the result.
- [Tool result](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/tool-result): What comes back to the model after it uses a tool: a file's contents, the output of a command, a search result or an error.
- [Filesystem](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/filesystem): The files and folders on a computer.
- [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…
- [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…
- [Environment](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/environment): A separate copy of a system used for one purpose.
- [Stateful](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/stateful): Describes something that carries information forward from one moment to the next.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/agent-environment