Run Modes

Agent Actions supports two execution modes: online (real-time) and batch (cost-optimized).

Overview

Mode	Processing	Latency	Cost	Use Case
online	Synchronous	Real-time	Standard	Interactive, development
batch	Asynchronous	Hours	Up to 50% savings	Production, large datasets

Configuration

defaults:
  run_mode: batch  # or "online"

actions:
  - name: my_action
    run_mode: online  # Override per-action

info

run_mode accepts the string values batch and online (case-insensitive). These map to the RunMode enum internally.

Online Mode

Requests process synchronously with immediate responses.

defaults:
  run_mode: online

When to use:

• Development and testing
• Interactive applications
• Small datasets (< 100 records)
• Debugging workflows

Batch Mode

Requests queue for asynchronous batch processing with significant cost savings.

defaults:
  run_mode: batch

When to use:

• Production workloads
• Large datasets (100+ records)
• Cost-sensitive processing
• Scheduled/overnight jobs

Provider Support

Provider	Batch API	Cost Savings
OpenAI	Yes	~50%
Anthropic	Yes	~50%
Google Gemini	Yes	Varies
Groq	Yes	Varies
Mistral	Yes	Varies
Ollama	No (local)	N/A

Batch Commands

# Check batch status
agac batch status --batch-id batch_abc123

# Retrieve completed results
agac batch retrieve --batch-id batch_abc123

# Retry failed records
agac batch retry --batch-id batch_abc123

See batch Commands for complete CLI reference.

Mixing Modes

Override at the action level for hybrid workflows:

defaults:
  run_mode: batch

actions:
  - name: bulk_extraction
    # Uses default batch mode

  - name: interactive_validation
    run_mode: online  # Override for this action

See Also

• batch Commands - CLI reference for batch operations
• Context Handling - Batch vs online context differences
• Granularity - Record vs file processing