Supervising an autonomous agent: lessons from tools like Manus
Agents that plan and act across many steps can save hours. They also need clear goals, limited access and review at the right moments.
By the Halden editorial team
What an agent is
Goal in, finished work out.
An autonomous agent plans steps, browses, writes and runs code to reach a goal. That makes it powerful for research briefs, data collection and first drafts, and it means small misunderstandings can compound.
Brief it well
Goal, constraints, definition of done.
Describe the outcome, the sources to use or avoid, the format and the stopping point. Say what it must ask before doing.
- State the goal and audience.
- List allowed sources and tools.
- Define when to stop and ask.
Limit access
Least privilege.
Give the agent only the accounts and files the task needs, and keep sensitive systems out of reach. Prefer sandboxes and read-only access.
Review and record
Checkpoints and logs.
Check intermediate results, verify key facts and keep the activity log. Decide in advance which actions need explicit human approval.
A next step
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