Difference between event-driven and ad-hoc agent execution?

Difference between event-driven and ad-hoc agent execution?hard

Type: conceptual
Topic: difference-between-event-driven-and-ad-hoc-agent-execution
Frequency: common
Tags: ai-agents, difference, between, event, driven, and

Answer

Event-driven: triggered by an external event (S3 upload → EventBridge → Step Functions) — fully automated.

Explanation

Event-driven: triggered by an external event (S3 upload → EventBridge → Step Functions) — fully automated. Used in a fund document processing system (new filing → auto-process). Ad-hoc: triggered on demand by a user or API call (user submits a contract in a document extraction pipeline). Same agent logic, different trigger mechanisms routed through API Gateway or EventBridge rules.

Follow-upWhen would you choose one approach over the other?