Session 6: Agentic Systems — From Chatbots to Autonomous Agents
A survey of top 2026 systems with deep dives into Antigravity, Hermes Agent, and OpenClaw.
Key Learning Outcomes
The 2026 Landscape in One Map
Three layers define the market: orchestration frameworks (LangGraph, CrewAI) for building, protocols (MCP) for connecting, and managed agents (Antigravity, Hermes, OpenClaw) for deploying. The survey covers 18 leading systems scored on autonomy, tool depth, memory quality, and enterprise readiness.
Deep Dive: Antigravity
Antigravity's strength is long-horizon task persistence: hierarchical planners, checkpointed state, and human-in-the-loop gates at irreversible actions. Best fit: operations workflows (procurement, onboarding) where audit trails are non-negotiable.
Deep Dive: Hermes Agent & OpenClaw
Hermes excels at fast tool-meshing across SaaS APIs with sub-second function routing — ideal for sales and support automation. OpenClaw focuses on local-first execution with strict permission sandboxes — the pick when data must never leave the premises.
Designing Your Swarm
Capstone blueprint: an intake agent, a planner, two specialist executors, and a QA auditor — all coordinated through a shared task graph with per-agent budgets. Includes permission tiers (read / propose / execute), rollback checkpoints, and a cost dashboard.
Core Architectural Terms & Definitions
A coordinated team of specialized agents executing a shared mission.
A mandatory approval checkpoint before irreversible agent actions.
Hands-on Module Assignment
Draft the 5-agent blueprint for one process in your organization, including permission tiers and rollback points.