Agents vs Workflows: Roles and Jobs

The two core concepts in Pencel map to a simple mental model:

• Agent = Role (who does the work)
• Workflow = Job (what gets done and when)

Note: "Workflow" is the current product term; the codebase, tRPC API, and /playbooks route still call this entity a playbook. Same thing.

Every workflow must have an assigned agent (role). This is enforced at the schema level — you cannot save or run a workflow without picking a role first.

Two-question decision funnel

From Home, ask yourself two questions:

1. Will I do this more than once?

   • No — start a chat. The agent handles it conversationally.
   • Yes — go to question 2.

2. How much structure does it need?

   • A quick one-off — from Pulse, Add Task → Run once: describe it and an agent does it now, nothing saved.
   • A real, recurring process — Add Task → Build an automated task (or Build from Home): author it through the guided Your job pane so Pencel compiles, tests, and schedules it as a Job.

Shortcut

Want a whole job without building anything? Check Solutions first — a pack may already assemble the agent, workflow, and connections for what you need.

Worked examples

1. One-shot question

"What were our top 3 competitors' funding rounds this quarter?"

Path: Chat with the Researcher agent. No workflow needed — this is a one-time question.

2. Recurring weekly report

"Every Monday at 9am, pull key metrics from our dashboard and email a summary to the team."

Path: Create a workflow assigned to the Analyst role. Add a schedule trigger (0 9 * * 1). The workflow runs automatically each Monday.

3. Escalation workup

"When a support ticket is tagged 'escalation', research the customer's history and draft a response."

Path: Create a workflow assigned to the Researcher role. Add an event trigger on ticket.escalated. The workflow fires whenever the event occurs.

4. Multi-step research project

"Research a topic, synthesize findings, then draft a report for review."

Path: Create a workflow with 3 steps. Assign the Researcher to steps 1-2 and the Writer to step 3 (per-step role override). Run manually when you have a new topic.

5. Scheduled daily briefing

"Every morning, check my email, summarize the important ones, and flag any deadlines."

Path: Create a workflow assigned to the Analyst role. Steps: fetch emails, categorize by priority, format briefing. Add a daily schedule trigger.

Key principles

• One concept per question. Roles answer "who." Workflows answer "what + when." No surface lets you express the same thing two ways.
• Loud failure beats silent surprise. If a workflow has no role, it fails clearly — no silent fallback to "the first agent we find."
• Roles are reusable. The same Analyst role can be assigned to many workflows. Think of roles as team members, not task-specific bots.

See also

• Agents — configuring roles, permissions, and tools
• Workflows — creating and running jobs
• Triggers — scheduling and event-driven automation
• Steps — structuring multi-step workflows