How Does Agentforce Work?
Agentforce works by running an AI agent on the Atlas Reasoning Engine. The agent reasons about what to do next, takes an action, checks the result, and repeats until the request is done, all inside the guardrails you set.
Every Agentforce agent has a role, the data it can reach, the actions it can take, its guardrails, and a channel. At runtime the Atlas engine plans and acts in a loop, pulling in your data through retrieval so answers stay grounded. Salesforce recommends Data 360, the former Data Cloud, as the engine that feeds agents their data.
How does Agentforce work, step by step?
An agent doesn't follow a fixed script. It runs a loop on the Atlas Reasoning Engine, reasoning through one step at a time and adjusting based on what it sees.
The agent repeats this loop until the request is done.
What is the Atlas Reasoning Engine?
Atlas is the reasoning system behind every agent, which Salesforce calls the platform's brain. Salesforce says it leans on deliberative System 2 reasoning and retrieval-augmented generation to keep answers tied to real data, and it uses reinforcement learning and feedback loops to cut down on hallucinations.
What are the parts of an Agentforce agent?
Salesforce defines an agent by five attributes. Set them up once and the agent knows its job and its limits.
The agent's job or purpose.
The knowledge and information the agent can access.
The tasks and capabilities the agent can carry out.
The boundaries and restrictions on what the agent may do.
Where the agent operates, such as chat or a specific surface.
How does Agentforce use your data?
An agent is only as good as the data behind it. Agentforce grounds answers in your Salesforce data and connected knowledge, and Salesforce points to Data 360, the former Data Cloud, as the engine that unifies that data and feeds it to agents through Zero Copy.
Where does GPTfy fit?
GPTfy takes a different route to the same idea. It is a Salesforce-native managed package that runs inside your org and lets you bring your own AI model, such as OpenAI, Anthropic's Claude, or Google Gemini. It grounds that model in your Salesforce data and needs no Data Cloud. If you want to pick your own model and keep the AI close to your data, that is the case GPTfy is built for.
How Agentforce works FAQ
How does Agentforce work?
An Agentforce agent runs on the Atlas Reasoning Engine. It reasons about the next step, takes an action, checks the result, and repeats until the request is done. It uses retrieval to keep answers tied to your data, and it stays inside guardrails you set.
What is the Atlas Reasoning Engine?
Atlas is the reasoning system behind every Agentforce agent, which Salesforce calls the platform's brain. Salesforce describes it as deliberative System 2 reasoning paired with retrieval-augmented generation, plus reinforcement learning and feedback loops meant to improve accuracy and cut hallucinations.
What are the parts of an Agentforce agent?
Salesforce defines an agent by five attributes: a role (its purpose), the data it can reach, the actions it can take, the guardrails on those actions, and the channel where it runs. You configure these in Salesforce's low-code tools.
How does Agentforce use your data?
Agents ground their answers in your Salesforce data and connected knowledge. Salesforce recommends Data 360, the former Data Cloud, as the engine that unifies that data and feeds it to agents through Zero Copy.
See an agent reason over your own Salesforce data
Book a walkthrough and watch GPTfy run the same kind of reasoning on your data, with the model you choose and no Data Cloud to stand up.