# Octy and agents

> Octy answers and routes with read-only tools; agents perform work, which reaches them through approval cards that a person approves in LightHouse.

Octy™ gives the organisation a read-only point of contact for questions and requests. Work that has an effect is performed by agents and approved by a person in LightHouse™, with the approval recorded.

Octy answers, explains and routes. Agents perform specialist work, such as a design review, a research brief or a draft for sign-off.

## Octy and agents compared

|                 | Octy                                                                                          | An agent                                                                                             |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Definition**  | One conversational agent, configured per use by an Octy profile                               | A versioned card for one job, from the library, the builder or code. See [Agents](/concepts/agents/) |
| **Function**    | Answers questions from a profile’s knowledge, with citations                                  | Performs work: reads, drafts, analyses and, where its card permits, acts                             |
| **Tools**       | Read-only. Profile settings cannot grant a tool that writes, approves, pays or changes access | The tools its card declares, each authorised at run time by the tool gate                            |
| **Changed by**  | Editing the profile in LightHouse. Each change is a new revision, applied by signed command   | Releasing a new version of the card through the release gate and its evaluations                     |
| **Audience**    | The profile’s audience, on its channels: the public, customers or staff                       | The people and systems that start it, with handlers who sign off its work                            |
| **Models**      | The router, against the profile’s quality bar                                                 | The router, against the card’s task class and quality bar                                            |
| **Cost limits** | The profile’s rate limits and monthly cap                                                     | The card’s caps, and the limits above it                                                             |
| **Approvals**   | Does not approve. Hands work on as an approval card                                           | Stops at **awaiting approval** for anything with an effect outside the deployment                    |

## Read-only by design

Every tool Octy may call is declared as a read. The engine’s tool gate authorises each call at run time, under a policy generated from Octy’s configuration. A tool the configuration does not grant is refused, regardless of the conversation. Octy holds no credential to act with, and no tool that approves, pays, changes access, changes a limit or sends content out. See [Controls](/octy/controls/#what-octy-always-refuses).

## Handing work to an agent

When a person requests work instead of an answer, Octy hands the request to an agent:

1. Octy identifies the request as work for an agent, such as “review this design against our standards”.
2. Octy starts that agent’s card through the orchestrator, with the person’s request as its input.
3. The agent performs the work. A card with an effect outside the deployment stops at **awaiting approval**.
4. Octy confirms to the person that the work has been raised, with a link to it in LightHouse.

Only a signed-in person can raise work this way. Requests through Slack, Teams or MCP cannot raise work.

## Approved in LightHouse

Approval cards are approved by a person in LightHouse only. Octy contains no approval code. Where Octy shows the status of work, it links to the attention queue in LightHouse, where the handler reviews the evidence and decides. See [Approvals](/concepts/approvals/) and [Handlers](/concepts/handlers/).

## Octy profiles consulting each other

> **Coming:**
>
> Octy profiles consulting each other, as a **consortium**. Each profile acts as a tool for the others, within its own boundary. A profile declares which other profiles it may consult, and each consulted profile answers only what its own tier and the caller’s audience allow; a public profile cannot obtain internal knowledge through another profile. Each consulted profile signs its own receipt, and the caller’s receipt carries those receipts. The evidence panel shows the whole chain: the profiles consulted, the sources each cited, and each verified signature. Each profile keeps its own cap, and a consultation carries a depth limit and a budget.

Source: https://docs.atlanticagenticlabs.com/octy/agents/