Your first agent, step by step

Time to practise. The project: you're organising a relative's birthday party, forty people, and you're looking for a venue. The agent will do the comparison; you decide and book.

1. Choosing a good first task

A comparison based on public websites ticks every box: several steps, a checkable result, nothing irreversible. For a first try, avoid anything that touches your email or your payments.

2. Writing the mission

"Goal: find five venues that can hold forty people, within twenty minutes of Nantes, free on a Saturday evening in June. Context: budget of 600 euros max, own cooking or caterer allowed, wheelchair access. Limits: you browse the sites, you don't fill in any form, you don't create any account, you don't contact anyone. Finish: a table with the name, capacity, price, accessibility and link; say what you couldn't check. If a site asks you to log in, move on to the next one."

3. Setting up access

The browser is enough. No email, no card, no logged-in account. If your tool allows it, turn on confirmation before any action.

4. Launching and watching the start

Follow the first few minutes: is it looking in the right place, in the right town? If not, stop it and clarify the mission rather than letting it wander.

5. Checking the output

• Open at least two links and compare price and capacity.
• Look at the "not checked" column: that's often where the trap hides (a price without cleaning, a standing capacity rather than seated).
• Ask it to fix what's wrong, not to redo everything.

6. Your turn

You call the two venues you picked, ask your questions, and book. Then keep the mission in a document: next time, you'll only need to change the town and the date. Also note what went wrong, to add it to the instructions.

What next?

Once this first project runs smoothly, go up a notch: an agent that reads your email to prepare draft replies, which you reread and send yourself. Add access one piece at a time, never all at once.