> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cloudsquid.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# The agent runtime
> Each agent works in its own environment — SQL over granted tables, project files, integration tokens, and the ability to run code when the task calls for it.
The agent isn't a prompt with a document stapled to it. It gets **its own computer** — a VM where it can run commands, query databases, open files, and produce new ones for the duration of the work.
That's what makes it possible to hand it a process instead of a task. A trained team member doesn't follow a fixed sequence of steps; they look things up, check an edge case, do a bit of arithmetic, and write the email. The runtime is what lets the agent do the same.
## What the agent can reach
| | What it means |
| ----------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **SQL over granted tables** | The agent queries your storage and extraction tables directly — lookups, joins, counts, candidate checks. Only the tables granted under **Data Access** on that reconcile table. |
| **Project files and folders** | It reads the documents in the case, the `SOP.md`, and anything else in the project's Files — and writes new files back. |
| **Integration tokens** | Access-controlled credentials for connected systems, used from inside the environment. See [Integrations](/concepts/integrations). |
| **Platform helpers** | Document reading including vision on PDFs and images, so scans, photos, and layout-heavy documents are workable. |
| **Skills and MCP servers** | Reusable capabilities you've added to the project. See [Skills](/concepts/skills) and [MCP servers](/concepts/mcp-servers). |
| **Web search** | For the cases where the answer isn't in your data. |
Everything outside that list is closed. The environment is scoped to the project and the grants on the table — see [Governance](/concepts/governance).
## It runs code when the task calls for it
There is no fixed pipeline behind a case. The agent decides what the work needs:
* A 4,000-row spreadsheet attached to an email → it processes it as data, not as text.
* Fifty candidate customers on a fuzzy name → it queries, normalizes, and compares in SQL.
* A total that doesn't add up → it recomputes the line items and says which one is off.
* A supplier who needs an answer → it drafts the reply with the case's facts in it.
Different cases take different paths through the same procedure. That's the point: the SOP describes the process, and the runtime is general enough to execute it.
## Deliverables on demand
Because the agent can write files, it can produce work products about its own work. Ask in the chat:
> Give me an xlsx of all Order Match cases from last month with match status, which ones needed review, and the reason.
It queries the table, does the analysis, and writes the xlsx into the project's Files — keep a `Reporting` folder for them so generated deliverables don't mix with incoming documents.
This is on demand — you ask, it produces. It is not a scheduled report job.
## Model tiers
Each reconcile table picks an **AI Model** tier in its **Configure** view:
| Tier | Character | Use it for |
| ------------ | -------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Fast** | Quick results, lower cost | High volume, clean inputs, mechanical matching where the rules are unambiguous |
| **Balanced** | Best for most tasks | The default starting point for a new process |
| **Powerful** | Most accurate, complex reasoning | Messy or visually complex documents, multi-step judgment, processes where a wrong call is expensive |
Start on **Balanced**. Move to **Powerful** when you see the agent flagging cases a person would have resolved, or misreading hard documents. Move to **Fast** once a process is stable and the cases are uniform.
Tiers apply to the agent — the reconcile table, the chat, agentic approval.
**Tiers are not extraction pipelines.** Extraction tables and the extraction API use a separate set of model configurations (`cloudsquid-flash`, `cloudsquid-pro-v3`, and so on). Different subsystem, different names — see [Extraction pipelines](/concepts/pipelines).
## Everything lands in the trace
Every query the agent ran, every file it opened, every action it took is recorded on the case. When a reviewer asks "why did it pick this customer", the answer isn't a summary written after the fact — it's the actual sequence of what happened.
See [Review & approvals](/concepts/review-approvals) for what the reviewer sees.
The procedure the runtime executes.
What scopes the environment: grants, gates, and the audit trail.
Tokens the agent uses from inside its environment.
Where the trace shows up for a human.