AgentBlocks – How it works

Step 1

Tell the agent about AgentBlocks — it'll set itself up

Paste in the setup snippet with an API key and it reads the docs, discovers its capabilities, and configures itself.

❯ In order to help me complete the next tasks, you'll need to use the AgentBlocks API, which allows me to selectively give you (the agent) tool access. I have created an API key for you: sk_example_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. The docs are at https://api.agentblocks.ai/agent-guide.

●Let me read the docs and discover my capabilities.

●Fetch(https://api.agentblocks.ai/agent-guide)

●Bash(curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_example_..." https://api.agentblocks.ai/agent/info)

GitHub capability is available. Let me set up the wrapper script.

●Bash(curl -sf "https://api.agentblocks.ai/agentblocks-git" -o .git/agentblocks-git && chmod +x .git/agentblocks-git)

Step 2

Give it a task — it figures out how to do it, with auto-approval for the actions you trust

The agent maps its task onto the tools AgentBlocks gave it. Operations you've marked as safe — like reading from a remote — proceed instantly without interrupting you.

❯ Look for commits on the remote that we don't have locally.

●Bash(AGENTBLOCKS_API_KEY=sk_example_... .git/agentblocks-git fetch)

agentblocks-git: auto-approved

Fetch succeeded. Now let me check for new remote commits.

●Bash(git log HEAD..origin/main --oneline)

(No output)

No new remote commits — both point to ff7b0ba ("Add Hello World website").

Step 3

You decide what the agent has to ask permission for

Here, pushing to a remote requires approval. The agent edits the file and makes the commit — then stops and waits. The API doesn't allow the agent to accidentally get it wrong.

❯ Update the website to say "Hello AgentBlocks", commit, and push.

●Update(index.html)

- <h1>Hello, World!</h1> + <h1>Hello, AgentBlocks!</h1>

●Bash(git commit -m "Update greeting to Hello AgentBlocks")

[main cd20e53] Update greeting to Hello AgentBlocks 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

●Bash(AGENTBLOCKS_API_KEY=sk_example_... .git/agentblocks-git push origin main)

Waiting for approval …

Meanwhile …

Get approval notifications on Slack, WhatsApp, via email, or wherever's convenient for you.

AgentBlocks approval dialog in Slack showing the push details and Approve / Deny buttons

You approve the push, and the agent picks up right where it left off.

✓ Approved To https://github.com/example/agentblocks-demo-github.git ff7b0ba..cd20e53 main -> main

Step 4

Then let it run

Your agent works unattended for as long as it needs to, only surfacing when it hits something that needs your say-so.

Agent activity — fix all open issues started 09:04