{
  "slug": "taxonomy-of-consumption",
  "title": "Taxonomy of Agent Consumption",
  "description": "Three models of how agents consume goods and services: as principal consumers, as procurement layers, and in hybrid consumption patterns.",
  "section": "foundations",
  "order": 2,
  "author": "get-headless",
  "url": "https://get-headless.ai/knowledge-base/taxonomy-of-consumption/",
  "apiUrl": "https://get-headless.ai/api/knowledge-base/taxonomy-of-consumption.json",
  "markdownUrl": "https://get-headless.ai/knowledge-base/taxonomy-of-consumption.md",
  "content": "## How agents consume\n\nNot all agent consumption looks the same. There are three distinct patterns through which agents participate in the headless economy.\n\n## 1. Agent as principal consumer\n\nThe agent directly consumes the capability or output as part of its own workflow.\n\n**Examples:**\n- An agent calls an OCR API\n- An agent invokes a ranking model\n- An agent uses a CLI tool or MCP server\n- An agent reads structured documentation\n- An agent queries a proprietary dataset\n- An agent consumes a free or paid search endpoint\n\nThis is the clearest and most direct form of headless consumption.\n\n## 2. Agent as procurement layer\n\nThe agent acquires a good or service on behalf of a human or organization, but is not the ultimate consumer of that good.\n\n**Examples:**\n- An agent purchases software seats for a company\n- An agent buys physical goods for a household\n- An agent handles delegated spending for a human principal\n\nThis includes much of agentic commerce. It is part of the headless economy, but not its entire scope.\n\n## 3. Hybrid consumption\n\nThe agent consumes intermediate goods or capabilities in order to generate an output for a human or another system.\n\n**Examples:**\n- An agent accesses filings, articles, and data to produce a briefing\n- An agent combines free and paid tools to complete a research workflow\n- An agent consumes compute, models, and documents to produce a work product\n\nThis is likely the most common real-world pattern. It connects direct machine consumption with human benefit."
}