When to use an agent
Fotometis runs an MCP server, so an agent outside the app can take the role of the assistant. The agent gets the same tools as the assistant: it edits, tags, rates, and exports photos. Fotometis keeps what the agent does, so you continue in the app after the agent finishes.
Use an agent for a big job, or for a job that needs your other software. Use the assistant for the photo in front of you. An agent can replace the assistant completely, but then you switch between the two apps often, to see a change or to move a control by hand.
What the assistant is for
Section titled “What the assistant is for”Use the assistant for the photo in front of you and the few photos around it. Each turn has a step limit, so on a whole folder the assistant runs out of steps. The limit keeps a turn short, and it keeps the cost of a hosted model predictable. See Limits.
What an agent is for
Section titled “What an agent is for”An agent runs as long as the job needs, so it works through a whole folder in one request. It also brings its own tools, and it can use the other software on your Mac.
For example, Claude Code can crop a whole batch of photos: it writes its own small programs, asks Fotometis for photo samples, and computes a crop for every photo. Or you have a tool that uploads photos to a server: in one prompt, Claude Code can export the photos from Fotometis and run the upload.
Claude Code is one example, and many agent apps have similar capabilities. Fotometis does not recommend one agent over another.
An agent asks more of you than the assistant does. Fotometis gives its own assistant instructions that an outside agent does not get. The instructions tell the assistant how Fotometis works. An outside agent works that out for itself, or you write the prompt that tells it.
What an agent costs
Section titled “What an agent costs”An agent needs an account with a provider, or a subscription to an agent app. If you make many edits each month, a subscription can cost less than a hosted model. The request and a copy of each photo go to the provider. The copy is downsampled when the agent looks at a photo, and full size when the agent exports one.
Why the connection runs this way
Section titled “Why the connection runs this way”Fotometis does not drive your agent. An earlier design had Fotometis start your agent as a subprocess. The App Store sandbox stops that, and a first-party agent app’s terms of service stop it as well. So the connection runs the other way: you drive Fotometis from the agent app, and Fotometis must run while the agent works.