Agent washing questions local LLM agents

This is a useful reality check for the agent hype cycle. Tool calling, retrieval, and a chat UI can make software feel autonomous, but the label only holds if the system is choosing its path while it runs.

• –Pre-wired branches and prompt logic are still valuable, but they are orchestration, not autonomy.
• –The runtime test matters most: does the model pick tools, recover from surprises, and change plans on its own?
• –Local stacks like Ollama and LM Studio can support real agents, but only when the model owns meaningful decisions instead of just filling slots in a script.
• –Calling every workflow an agent creates expectation debt, which leads teams to skip guardrails and then blame the category when the system behaves exactly as designed.