Components of a software agent

The model of a software agent supported by the Base Technology Agent Server is relatively simple but enables both a sophisticated level of processing and automatic processing by the underlying infrastructure of the agent server. The feature areas or components of an agent in this model are:

1. Parameters - needed to parameterize the behavior of each agent
2. Inputs - other agents upon whose outputs this agent depends
3. Timers - to control periodic behavior of the agent (its "heartbeat", so to speak)
4. Conditions - expressions which must be true for the agent to take action
5. Scripts - procedural code to respond to specific events
6. Memory - internal storage that persists for the life of the agent
7. Scratchpad - temporary storage that is not guaranteed to persist, such as if a server is rebooted
8. Outputs - a collection of data fields to be made available to the environment and other agents
9. Notifications - conditions under which the user will be notified of events.

-- Jack Krupansky