> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.aperium.apps.hillspire.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How agents, tools & skills work

> What makes an agent able to do things, not just chat — agent, tool, MCP, and skill in plain language.

[AI vocabulary](/literacy/ai-vocabulary) ended on a teaser: a chatbot talks, an agent can act. This page opens that up. When you ask Aperium something like "what's the status of the Riverside lease renewal?" and it comes back with the actual, current answer from the real system — not a guess — that works because of four pieces working together. Here is the name and job of each.

## Chatbot versus agent

A plain chatbot only talks; it answers from what it already "knows." An **agent** can take actions. That single distinction is the hinge for everything below — the rest of this page is really just answering *how* an agent does that.

## The four pieces

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Agent — the AI that can act">
    The AI that takes actions, not just answers from memory. It looks at what you asked, figures out what is actually needed, and goes and does or gets it. Summarizing a pasted document is something a plain chatbot handles fine; asking for the live status of a contract needs an agent, because it has to go look.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Tool — one specific action">
    One action the agent is allowed to call — search Salesforce, look up a contract in Malbek, run a BigQuery query, post a Slack message. Each tool does one job well, and the agent picks whichever tools fit the task in front of it.

    **Key point:** if there is no tool for a job, the agent cannot do that job — and a well-built agent says so plainly instead of guessing.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="MCP — the universal adapter">
    The standard "plug" that lets an AI connect to many different systems the same consistent way, instead of a bespoke wiring job per system. Think of it as **USB-C for AI**: one kind of port, whether you are plugging in a phone, a monitor, or a hard drive. Before a shared standard like this, every new system meant custom, fragile glue code; with MCP, the same AI can plug into Salesforce, Google Drive, Jira, or a database through the same kind of connection. You never need to know MCP exists to use Aperium — it is the wiring behind the wall.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Skill — a saved recipe">
    A saved, reusable "how-to" the AI can follow instead of improvising fresh every time. Think of a **recipe card or checklist**: once someone writes down the right steps for a repeatable job, anyone can hand it to the AI and get the same careful result — instead of a different quality of answer depending on how the question happened to be phrased. Example: a "check this contract's renewal status" skill that always checks the same things in the same order — renewal date, signature status, outstanding items — no matter who asks.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## How they combine

One picture ties it together:

<Steps>
  <Step title="You ask">
    A question that may need real, current information.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The agent decides">
    It reads the request and works out what is actually needed. If a saved skill covers the job, it follows that skill's steps here instead of improvising.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It calls a tool">
    The agent picks the right tool — reaching outside through the MCP connection if that tool touches an external system.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The tool returns a result">
    Real data comes back from the real system.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You get a grounded answer">
    An answer based on the actual system, not a guess.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Worked example: the Riverside lease

| Step                  | What happens                                                                          |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| You ask               | "What's the status of the Riverside lease renewal?"                                   |
| Agent decides         | This needs live data, not a guess; it picks the right tool.                           |
| Tool + MCP            | The tool reaches the real contract system through the MCP connection.                 |
| Skill (if one exists) | Checks renewal date, signature status, and outstanding items — same order every time. |
| Result                | A grounded answer from the actual record.                                             |

A generic chatbot alone has none of the three middle rows — it would either guess or admit it cannot check.

## Common misconceptions

<Warning>
  * **"The agent can do anything."** False — it can only do what it has a tool for. No tool means no ability, and it should say so rather than guess.
  * **"A skill means it's cleverly improvising."** False — a skill is a *fixed* set of steps, which is exactly why it is trustworthy and repeatable.
  * **"MCP is one specific app or product."** False — it is a shared standard, the way USB-C is a standard, not a brand.
</Warning>

## Where to go next

<Card title="Capabilities & limits" icon="scale-balanced" href="/literacy/capabilities-limits">
  Builds on this by mapping what agents are genuinely good and bad at. Next time you use Aperium, notice one moment where it is clearly reaching outside itself for real information — that is a tool call happening live.
</Card>