AI engineering glossary · Agents tools MCP
What is human-on-the-loop?
Human-on-the-loop: A pattern where an agent works on its own while a person monitors it and can step in or stop it, rather than approving each action. It suits high-volume, lower-risk work where approving every step is impractical.
Human-on-the-loop: an example
A dashboard shows an agent triaging 500 tickets an hour, and a supervisor can pause it if quality drops.
Related terms
More Agents tools MCP terms
- Idempotency (tool calls)
- Indirect prompt injection
- Interrupt (agent)
- JSON-RPC
- Kill switch
- LangChain
- LangGraph
- Least privilege for agents
Where you learn it
Human-on-the-loop is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.