Quest 09 · Developers
The Lantern That Moves by Itself
What to hand a tool-using AI agent, and how far
- Time
- 7 min
- Max XP
- 100
- Skill earned
- AI agents that use tools
1 / 50 XP
The storehouse
Hanna
Running the guild storehouse is too much work. Counting stock, sending order letters to merchants when we run low, checking the replies.
Ari
Give me tools and I can do it myself. Tools like reading the stock ledger, sending letters, and placing orders. Given a goal, I choose a tool, look at the result, and decide what to do next, over and over.
An AI that takes a goal and works through several steps, choosing and using tools on its own, is called an AI agent. It is the AI doing request 5's step-splitting by itself.
Summary
What this request teaches
What if an AI does not just answer, but looks things up, sends letters, and places orders itself? Through managing the guild storehouse, learn how an AI agent works, how to split permissions, and how to block instructions hidden in outside text.
Show the key points (best read after finishing the request)
- An AI agent takes a goal and works through several steps, choosing tools, looking at results, and deciding what to do next on its own.
- An agent's mistakes become actions, not words. So how far you hand things over matters more than what you hand over.
- Give only the tools and permissions needed (least privilege). Run spending or irreversible actions only after a person checks them.
- Prompt injection hides instructions inside outside text. Do not try to stop it with one instruction; block it structurally by splitting permissions for reading and acting.
- Record everything an agent did and every tool it used so it can be checked later.
Try it yourself
Pick a task you want to automate and use the template below to design, with an AI, how much to hand to an agent.
I want to turn [the task to automate] into an AI agent. 1. List the tools this task needs, and mark whether each one only reads or changes something. 2. Among the tools that change things, tell me which need a person's check, and why. 3. If outside text comes in, tell me where prompt injection could happen and how to block it.