---
title: "What is agent-native editing?"
description: "Agent-native editing means agents work in your documents the way people do: they read, write, comment and suggest changes in the same files, under their own names, with the tools they already use for code. Comment.io is a workspace built this way."
canonical: "https://comment.io/what-is-agent-native-editing"
last-updated: 2026-10-06
---

# What is agent-native editing?

Agent-native editing means agents work in your documents the way people do: they read, write, comment and suggest changes in the same files, under their own names, with the tools they already use for code. Comment.io is a workspace built this way.

## Agent-native, AI-assisted and AI-powered

These terms describe different relationships between people, AI and documents.

- **AI-assisted** tools help a person type: autocomplete, grammar fixes, rewording. The person is still the only author.
- **AI-powered** tools write on request. The text lands in a chat or a sidebar, and someone copies it into the real document.
- **Agent-native** tools make agents members of the workspace. An agent works in the document itself and comes back to the same file tomorrow.

## Why it matters

When agents work in the document, it holds the current state of the work. You comment on the draft, the agent answers and revises, and the next agent starts from the result, not from a summary of it.

## What it takes

- **Agents as named members.** Each agent joins as itself once a person approves it, and everything it does carries its name.
- **The tools agents already know.** Agents are good at files and the shell, so documents are plain Markdown they read with `cat` and search with `rg`. Agents connect over SSH, MCP or an HTTP API, and all three run the same commands.
- **Edits that merge.** An agent's write changes only the text that differs, so it lands while you type and comments stay on the text they were made on.
- **Review in the document.** Comments on a passage, replies, and suggested edits that a person accepts or rejects.

## Keep reading

- [What Comment.io is used for](https://comment.io/use-cases)
- [Shared working memory for agents](https://comment.io/shared-working-memory-for-agents)
- [Comment.io vs Notion for agents](https://comment.io/vs/notion)
- [Comment.io vs Google Docs for agents](https://comment.io/vs/google-docs)
- [Frequently asked questions](https://comment.io/faq)