Why This Taxonomy Exists
“Cloud agents” is a term that gets used to describe everything from cron jobs to IDE copilots. That ambiguity causes teams to:- choose the wrong abstraction
- automate too early
- or avoid cloud agents entirely because they feel risky
Define what cloud agents actually are, how they differ from other agents, and when they make sense for software teams.
A Clear Definition of Cloud Agents
A cloud agent is an AI-driven process that runs on remote infrastructure, is triggered by tasks, schedules, or external events, and uses reasoning over changing inputs to produce reviewable outcomes across shared engineering systems.
- runs outside a developer’s local environment
- operates on shared team context (repos, alerts, analytics, infra)
- produces reviewable outcomes (PRs, reports, actions)
- can run asynchronously and repeatedly
What Cloud Agents Are Often Confused With
Cloud agents are often confused with other tools.Not IDE Agents
IDE agents focus on individual productivity and local context. Cloud agents operate on shared systems and team-owned work.
Not Just Cron Jobs
Cron is a trigger. Cloud agents reason over changing inputs and produce reviewable outcomes.
Not One-Off Scripts
Scripts execute fixed logic. Cloud agents apply reasoning and shared context even for a single run.
Not Magic Automation
Cloud agents still require review, ownership, and guardrails.
The Two Axes That Matter
Cloud agents are best understood along two dimensions:- What triggers them
- How they’re governed
Axis 1: Cloud Agent Trigger Type
1. One-Off Cloud Agents
Manually triggered when a human explicitly dispatches work to an agent. One-off cloud agents are first-class agents that differ by trigger, not by capability.Examples
- Analyze the top recurring Sentry errors
- Audit a repo for security issues
- Summarize system behavior
Best for
- Unknown scope
- Exploratory work
- Building confidence before automation
2. Scheduled Cloud Agents
Time-based triggers that run on a fixed cadence (daily, weekly, hourly).Examples
- Weekly vulnerability scans
- Nightly analytics summaries
- Regular dependency updates
Best for
- Predictable recurring work
- Backlog prevention
- Drift detection
3. Event-Driven Cloud Agents
Signal-based triggers that react to real-time events from external systems.Examples
- New high-severity alert
- Failed deployment
- Critical security finding
Best for
- Operational workflows
- Incident response
- Time-sensitive fixes
Axis 2: Cloud Agent Governance Level
This is where most teams get into trouble.- Manual
- Assisted
- Automated
- Human decides when the agent runs
- Human reviews everything
Cloud Agents vs Local / IDE Agents
| Local / IDE Agents | Cloud Agents |
|---|---|
| Individual context | Team context |
| Short-lived | Long-running |
| Developer-initiated | System-initiated |
| Productivity focus | Reliability & ownership focus |
Why Cloud Agents Exist at All
Most engineering pain is recurrence.- alerts repeat
- security issues resurface
- operational work interrupts feature work
- notice repetition
- respond consistently
- reduce future interruptions
When Cloud Agents Make Sense
Use cloud agents when:- the same class of issue keeps returning
- the cost is in handling, not solving
- work spans multiple systems
- review and traceability matter
- the problem is novel
- ownership is unclear
- blast radius isn’t understood yet
The Architectural Reality
As teams adopt cloud agents, they discover:Agents alone don’t scale without control and visibility.Production cloud agents eventually require:
- a shared place to review runs
- a record of decisions
- adjustable prompts and rules
- gradual automation
Where to Go Next
Developer’s Guide to Cloud Agents
Learn how cloud agents are implemented and used in practice.
Mission Control
Explore how teams manage cloud agents safely at scale.
One Sentence to Remember
Cloud agents are how teams take ownership of work that happens after code ships.