# Create an AI Agent

You build an AI Agent by defining its **flow**. There are two ways to start: from a **use-case template** that comes preconfigured for a common insurance process, or **from scratch** as a blank flow you build yourself. This page covers both paths and what each leaves you to configure.

## Before you start: choose where the agent lives

An AI Agent is created inside a specific **organization → workspace**. Before you create one, make sure you're working in the right context:

- Confirm the **organization** you're in.
- Select the **workspace** and **AI Agent** the flow belongs to. Group a flow with the other flows that support the same process or use case.

If you're not sure how to organize these, see [Platform hierarchy](../onboarding/platform-hierarchy.md). You need build access to the AI Agent — see [Users and access](../onboarding/users-access.md).

## Start from a use-case template

Templates are the fastest way to a working agent. A template provides a flow that is already structured for a specific insurance use case — for example, submission intake or claim indexing — with the trigger, nodes, and processing steps for that process already in place.

To create an agent from a template:

1. Start creating a flow in your AI Agent and choose the template for the use case you want to automate.
2. Give the agent a clear **name** (and an optional description).
3. Open the new flow to review and finish configuring it.

A template gives you a head start, but it is not ready to run as-is — you still need to complete the configuration described under [What you configure either way](#what-you-configure-either-way). For the details of a specific template — what it preconfigures and what you must supply — see the matching page in [Use Cases](../use-cases/overview.md).

## Start from scratch

Starting from scratch gives you an empty flow to build yourself. Choose this when no template fits your process, or when you want full control over the design.

To create an agent from scratch:

1. Start creating a flow in your AI Agent without selecting a template.
2. Give the agent a clear **name** (and an optional description).
3. Open the new flow. It begins empty, so your first steps are to add a trigger and the nodes that process each case.

## Establish the initial flow

However you start, an agent needs two things defined before it can do useful work:

- **A trigger** — how work enters the flow. The trigger brings in the initial input and starts each run. Choose and configure it in [Configure triggers](./triggers.md).
- **The required outcome** — what the agent must produce by the end of the flow, such as a created or updated record in your system of record, or an item routed for human review. Knowing the target outcome tells you which nodes the flow needs in between.

With the trigger and intended outcome established, you compose the nodes that get from one to the other. See the [Node catalog](./node-catalog.md).

## What you configure either way

A new agent — whether from a template or from scratch — starts as a **draft** and is not live until you publish it. Before testing or publishing, plan to configure:

- **The trigger**, including any connection it depends on. See [Configure triggers](./triggers.md).
- **The nodes** that classify, extract, match, route, review, and write back, including the connection and field details for any integration nodes. See the [Node catalog](./node-catalog.md).
- **Required outputs** — the fields and results the flow must produce.
- **The environment and any variables** the flow uses. See [Configure environments and variables](./environments-variables.md).
- **Human review**, where the process needs a person to confirm or correct before completion.

Templates preconfigure much of the flow structure for their use case; from scratch, you build all of it. In both cases the connection details, matching targets, environment, and review specifics are yours to set for your organization.

## Next steps

Once the agent is created and configured:

1. **Test it.** Run the draft against sample input. See [Test and debug a draft](./test-debug-draft.md).
2. **Publish it.** Publish the draft so it runs in production. See [Drafts and publishing](./drafts-publishing.md).

## Where to go next

- [Use Cases](../use-cases/overview.md) — template-specific guidance for each insurance process.
- [Configure triggers](./triggers.md) — set up how the flow starts.
- [Node catalog](./node-catalog.md) — the nodes you compose into the flow.
- [Build AI Agents](./overview.md) — the full lifecycle and builder controls.