Make the distinction
Compare concepts
Five common points of confusion, explained side by side with evidence and scope caveats.
- Agent & Workflow In this scoped distinction, an agent dynamically directs its process while a workflow primarily follows control flow prescribed by code.
- Context Window & Memory The context window limits the current interaction; application memory retains information that may be selected for later interactions.
- Agent Harness & Scaffold A useful narrow distinction: the harness runs the interaction; the scaffold shapes how the model behaves.
- RAG & Fine-tuning RAG supplies retrieved information for generation; fine-tuning changes trainable model parameters. A system can use both.
- Tool & Agent Skill A tool performs an operation; a skill packages instructions and resources for carrying out a kind of task.