# Introducing micro.NewAgent()

> Agent is now a first-class abstraction in Go Micro — alongside Service and Flow. Build intelligent agents that manage your services in Go.

---

LLMS index: [llms.txt](/llms.txt)

---

Go Micro now has three core abstractions:

```go
service := micro.NewService("task")              // capability
agent   := micro.NewAgent("task-mgr")     // intelligence
flow    := micro.NewFlow("onboard-user")  // event-driven orchestration
```

Service has been the foundation since 2015. Flow added event-driven LLM orchestration. Now Agent completes the picture — an intelligent layer that manages services, with scoped tools, persistent memory, and multi-agent coordination.

## What an Agent Is

A Service has endpoints and handles requests. An Agent knows *how* to use those endpoints intelligently. The service doesn't know about its agent. The agent knows about its services.

```go
agent := micro.NewAgent("task-mgr",
    micro.AgentServices("task", "project"),
    micro.AgentPrompt("You manage tasks and projects. You understand deadlines, priorities, and assignments."),
    micro.AgentProvider("anthropic"),
)
agent.Run()
```

That's it. The agent:
- Discovers `task` and `project` from the registry
- Only sees their endpoints (scoped tools — no access to unrelated services)
- Maintains conversation memory in the store (survives restarts)
- Registers as a real service with a proto-defined `Agent.Chat` RPC endpoint
- Discoverable by `micro chat`, other agents, or any go-micro client

Under the hood, an agent IS a service. It has a real server, a real address, and a real proto definition:

```protobuf
service Agent {
    rpc Chat(ChatRequest) returns (ChatResponse) {}
}
```

This means you can call an agent the same way you call any service:

```bash
micro call task-mgr Agent.Chat '{"message": "What tasks are overdue?"}'
```

## Talking to an Agent

Programmatically:

```go
resp, _ := agent.Ask(ctx, "What tasks are overdue for Alice?")
fmt.Println(resp.Reply)
```

Via the CLI:

```bash
micro agent list
  ◆ task-mgr    manages: task, project

micro chat
> What tasks are overdue for Alice?
  [task-mgr] Checking overdue tasks...
  → task_Task_ListOverdue({"user_id":"alice"})
  ← {"records":[...],"total":"3"}

  Alice has 3 overdue tasks:
  1. Write quarterly report (due June 1)
  2. Review PR #42 (due June 2)
  3. Update deployment docs (due June 3)
```

`micro chat` discovers the agent from the registry and routes to it automatically. If multiple agents are registered, the router classifies intent and dispatches to the right one.

## Multi-Service Agents

An agent can manage multiple services that form a domain:

```go
agent := micro.NewAgent("project-mgr",
    micro.AgentServices("task", "project", "milestone"),
    micro.AgentPrompt("You manage the project system. Tasks belong to projects. Milestones track progress."),
    micro.AgentProvider("anthropic"),
)
```

The agent understands the relationships between its services because its prompt gives it domain knowledge. It coordinates across them without the services needing to know about each other.

## Multi-Agent Systems

Multiple agents coordinate via RPC — each is a service with an `Agent.Chat` endpoint:

```go
// Task management agent
taskAgent := micro.NewAgent("task-mgr",
    micro.AgentServices("task", "project"),
    micro.AgentPrompt("You manage tasks and projects."),
    micro.AgentProvider("anthropic"),
)

// Communications agent
commsAgent := micro.NewAgent("comms-mgr",
    micro.AgentServices("notification", "email"),
    micro.AgentPrompt("You handle notifications and emails."),
    micro.AgentProvider("anthropic"),
)
```

When you ask `micro chat` to "reschedule Alice's tasks and notify her," the router dispatches to both agents. Each handles its domain. The user sees one conversation.

## Persistent Memory

Agents remember. Conversation history is stored in the go-micro store and persists across restarts:

```text
agent/task-mgr/history     — conversation history
```

The store backend determines durability — file-backed by default, Postgres or NATS KV for production. An agent that restarts picks up where it left off.

## The Three Abstractions

| | Service | Agent | Flow |
|---|---------|-------|------|
| **What** | Capability | Intelligence | Event orchestration |
| **Does** | Handles requests | Manages services | Reacts to events |
| **Knows** | Its endpoints | Its services' endpoints | Its trigger topic |
| **State** | Store | Store-backed memory | Checkpointed run history |
| **Create** | `micro.NewService("name")` | `micro.NewAgent("name")` | `micro.NewFlow("name")` |
| **Package** | `service/` | `agent/` | `flow/` |

They compose:
- A **Service** handles requests and stores data
- An **Agent** orchestrates one or more services intelligently
- A **Flow** triggers LLM orchestration when events arrive on the broker

You can use any combination. Services work without agents. Agents work without flows. Each adds a layer.

## Getting Started

```bash
curl -fsSL https://go-micro.dev/install.sh | sh

# Generate services
micro run --prompt "task management system"

# In another terminal — talk to them
micro chat --provider anthropic
> Create a project called Launch and add three tasks to it
```

Or build an agent in Go:

```go
package main

import "go-micro.dev/v6"

func main() {
    agent := micro.NewAgent("task-mgr",
        micro.AgentServices("task"),
        micro.AgentPrompt("You manage tasks."),
        micro.AgentProvider("anthropic"),
    )
    agent.Run()
}
```

The agent implementation lives under `go-micro.dev/v6/agent`; most users create agents through the top-level `go-micro.dev/v6` API. The full interface design is documented in [AGENT_DESIGN.md](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/internal/docs/AGENT_DESIGN.md).

---

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