Comparison
Agent vs Reflexion
Agent and Reflexion are both common AI/LLM terms but cover different ideas. Here is a quick side-by-side.
When you would reach for Agent
Agent comes up when the question is fundamentally about agents & tools.
Claude Code — coding agent that edits files, runs commands, runs tests.
When you would reach for Reflexion
Multi-attempt agents on verifiable tasks (code, math, structured outputs). Less useful for one-shot tasks.
A coding agent that gets a test failure, generates a reflection ("the function signature expects a list, I passed a string"), and retries with the corrected understanding.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between Agent and Reflexion?
Agent: An AI agent is an LLM-driven system that decides which actions to take, executes them via tools, observes the results, and iterates until a goal is met. Reflexion: Reflexion is a pattern where an agent runs, observes failures, generates a short natural-language "reflection" on what went wrong, and retries with that reflection appended to its prompt — improving via self-critique without weight updates.
When should I use Agent vs Reflexion?
Agent is the right concept when you are focused on agents & tools. Multi-attempt agents on verifiable tasks (code, math, structured outputs). Less useful for one-shot tasks.
Are Agent and Reflexion the same thing?
No. Agent is agents & tools; Reflexion is agents & tools. They are related but address different parts of the AI stack.