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Part 2 — Where you use it

Compare AI surfaces by context, tools, permissions, persistence, and billing before choosing where work should happen.

The model is only one layer. The surface around it determines what the system can see, which tools it can call, and what it can change.

Lesson	Use it when
Chat, desktop, IDE, terminal, API	You need to choose the right working surface.
Plan, act, observe, check	An agent can take several steps or edit a project.
Reach another system safely	A tool needs access to mail, files, calendars, repositories, or another service.
What an API call costs and exposes	You are moving from a product interface to programmatic calls.

Choose between chat, desktop, IDE, terminal, and API surfaces by what each can see and change.

Supervise an agent through a bounded plan, action, observation, and verification loop with a clear stop condition.

Use a connector with the minimum scope, start read-only, and preserve source evidence without granting hidden authority.

Separate product subscriptions from API usage and keep provider credentials out of browser code, prompts, logs, and Git.