Definition · architectures
planning
planning is the process of choosing a sequence of actions intended to reach a goal. You can spot planning in practice when the record shows what the system observes, what choice it makes, and what changes next, without asking the reader to guess or trust a slogan.
157 definitions656 sourced recordsNamed source: ACL Anthology
Why does planning matter?
Planning matters when action order changes cost, safety, or the ability to recover. For planning, start with three checks: Who chooses the next step? Where does state live between steps? Who owns recovery when a step fails? The answers should point to visible evidence, not a promise.
What does planning look like?
A deployment agent schedules backup, rollout, health checks, and rollback in that order. This example makes planning visible by naming the actor, the action, and the result in practice. It is an illustration for readers, not a claim that every product behaves this way.
What is planning easy to confuse with?
Planning chooses an intended action sequence. Orchestration decides which actors and workflows run with shared state. The closest entries here are planner-executor, planning via search, simulation-based planning. Compare their definitions with planning before using the names as if they mean the same thing. That comparison keeps planning separate from nearby ideas without pretending the boundary is always perfect.
How certain is this definition?
This definition is provisional. ACL Anthology supports the version you see today, but a better or more direct source may change it. Open the cited page and check its date before you use this entry to choose a product, write a policy, set a safety control, or design a system.
Who introduced the term planning?
We have not verified who first introduced planning. The source supports a useful definition, but it may not be the earliest use. Until a dated primary record settles the question, we leave the origin open. A popular article or product page is not enough to name the person who coined a term.
What should you understand before planning?
Read agent workflow first when planning depends on a more basic idea or mechanism. The link gives you a useful route through the glossary. It does not mean every author teaches the subject in this order, so follow the source when the sequence matters.
What should this term help you answer?
Use planning to ask what an agent can observe, decide, change, remember, or hand off. The questions below turn the definition into a practical check. They are prompts for your own work, not claims made by the source, so change them to fit the system you are examining.
- Who chooses the next step?
- Where does state live between steps?
- Who owns recovery when a step fails?
Which source supports this definition of planning?
ACL Anthology supports this working definition of planning. We checked the link on 2026-07-12. Open the original record for its context, methods, limits, and publication details. The short explanation here is a guide to planning; the linked source remains the evidence to inspect when the wording or boundary matters.
source foundplanningChecked 2026-07-12→