# Turn

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

Also called: turns, conversation turn, agent turn, back and forth, exchange

One round of a [conversation](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/session) with an [agent](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent): you send a message, and the agent works until it hands control back to you. Inside a single turn the agent may use many tools and make many requests to the model.

**For example:** A [founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) types 'add a [pricing page](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/pricing-tiers)' and the [agent](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent) spends four minutes editing files before it replies. That whole stretch was one turn.

## Connects to (5)

- [Session](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/session): One stretch of work with an AI agent, from a blank start until it is cleared, closed or compacted.
- [AI agent](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai-agent): An AI tool that does more than answer a question.
- [Model provider request](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/model-provider-request): One trip from an AI product to the model provider and back.
- [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.
- [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.

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