Introduction to Agents

Written By Stanislas

Last updated 9 days ago

Agents are custom AI assistants built for specific purposes. Each agent has its own objectives, knowledge base, and skills—giving you specialized expertise without leaving Swiftask. Use agents for repeated, specialized tasks like document analysis, customer support, or custom workflows.

Overview

Agents are AI assistants configured to handle specific types of work. Unlike Chat (which is general-purpose), agents are pre-configured with:

  • Objectives and instructions – Specific guidance on what the agent should do

  • Knowledge base – Documents and data sources the agent can access

  • Skills – Tools and integrations the agent can use (sending emails, querying databases, retrieving data, etc.)

Each agent is optimized for its purpose and produces better results for specialized tasks than a general AI model would.

When to use agents

Use agents when you need:

  • Specialized, repeatable work – Document analysis, customer support, marketing strategy, compliance review

  • Consistent results – The same task performed the same way every time

  • Specific knowledge – Access to documents, databases, or custom data your agent knows about

  • Workflow automation – Tasks that follow a predictable pattern

Use Chat instead if you need quick answers to one-off questions or want to explore ideas without a specific workflow.

Prerequisites

To use agents, you need:

  • A Swiftask account (sign up at swiftask.ai)

  • Access to Chat

  • Agents created or shared with you in your workspace

Agents are available to all Swiftask users. If you don't see any agents, you may need to create one first or ask a teammate to share an agent with you.

Accessing agents

From the Agents section:

  1. Click Agents in the left sidebar

  2. Browse available agents in these categories:

    • All agents – All agents in your workspace

    • Personal – Agents you've created or customized

    • Shared with me – Agents shared by team members

    • Collections – Agents organized by category (e.g., Commercial, Marketing)

    • Toolbox – Access automations and skills

From Chat:

  1. Navigate to Chat in the left sidebar

  2. Locate the agent selector dropdown on the left side of the input field (by default, it shows "Swiftask" as the active agent)

  1. Click on an agent card to switch to that agent:

    • Select "My agents" section

    • Select a different agent from the list

    • Each agent card shows the agent name, description, avatar, and cost indicator

    • Click any agent card to switch to that agent instantly. The agent becomes active, and you can now chat with it.

  1. Start chatting with the agent:

    • Type your message in the input field

    • Ask the agent to perform tasks related to its specialty

    • Attach files for the agent to analyze (if configured)

    • Use all standard Chat features (voice input, file uploads, etc.)

    • The agent will respond using its configured knowledge base, skills, and instructions

  2. Switch to a different agent:

    • You can switch to another agent at any time in the same conversation

Key capabilities

What agents can do:

  • Analyze documents using their knowledge base

  • Answer questions based on specific data sources

  • Perform specialized tasks (customer support, marketing, compliance, etc.)

  • Access multiple integrations and tools

  • Maintain context across conversations

  • Provide consistent, specialized responses

What agents cannot do:

  • Access information outside their configured knowledge base

  • Perform tasks outside their objectives and instructions

  • Use skills that haven't been configured for them

  • Access real-time information unless a skill is configured for it

Limitations

Credit consumption:

Each agent interaction consumes credits. The cost varies based on:

  • The agent's configured model

  • The length of your message and the agent's response

  • Any files you attach

  • Skills the agent uses (integrations, database queries, etc.)

Configuration requirements:

Agents must be properly configured to work effectively:

  • Sources (knowledge base connections) must be valid and accessible

  • Skills must have required parameters configured

  • Instructions and objectives must be clear and specific

What's next

Now that you understand what agents are and how to use them, explore:

  • Using an agent for the first time – Create your first custom agent

  • Browse and change AI models – Learn when to use different AI models vs. agents

  • Attaching files & documents – Upload files for agents to analyze

  • Agent features – Learn more about building and configuring agents

Ready to use agents? Click on an agent card now and start chatting with a specialized AI assistant.