Technology
Below The Deck.
What an agent is and where it runs. The architecture in plain terms.
Chatbot vs Agent
An Agent Is A Chatbot With Hands.
Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini are chatbots. Powerful, but they answer questions and stop. An agent uses the same underlying model but has access to tools. It can read your files, call your CRM, post to Slack, run a script, write a memo to your company format. Same intelligence. More reach.
In Practice
Four Things An Agent Does That A Chatbot Cannot.
Use Your Templates.
A chatbot needs you to upload an example each time. An agent has your template library available, and writes the next memo in your company format without prompting.
Connect To Your Tools.
A chatbot can describe what's in your Notion or Salesforce. An agent reaches them through MCP and reads, writes, or updates the record directly.
Work Across Files.
A chatbot lives in a single conversation. An agent navigates your folder, reads multiple documents, and produces an output that draws on all of them.
Remember Your Context.
A chatbot starts from a blank slate. An agent reads your CLAUDE.md and company-context folder before it does anything, so it knows your voice, your terminology, and your standards.
Architecture
The Three Parts Of An Agent.
Every working agent has the same three pieces, and the whole package lives inside a folder you own.
Brain.
The same large language model that powers Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini. The agent is not a different kind of intelligence. It's the same intelligence, given more to do.
Hands.
Tools the model can call: read a file, run a query, search the web, push to GitHub, post a Slack message. ZPT picks the tools that match each workflow.
Harness.
The runtime that holds Brain and Hands together. The major options are Claude Desktop, Codex, and Microsoft Copilot Cowork. ZPT helps you pick the combination that matches your security policies.
Where It Lives
The Agent's Home.
An agent is only as good as the folder it operates in. The folder holds context, skills, templates, and real examples. Your team owns it, runs it, and grows it.
The package is a folder. It can be zipped and shared. For ongoing use, GitHub is the recommended home (version-controlled and easy to update). SharePoint, Google Drive, and Dropbox also work.
Start Here
Start With A Conversation.
Every engagement begins with a conversation. Book a 30-minute call to talk through your team's situation.