What does it mean that habits are cognitive agents that run automatically?

A habit is a behavior that fires without conscious decision — it is a deployed agent.

Example: You walk into your kitchen at 6:45 AM. Without deciding to, you open the cabinet, grab a mug, fill the kettle, measure coffee, and start the brew. You do not consult a checklist. You do not weigh alternatives. Your hands move through a sequence you have performed a thousand times, and your conscious mind is free to think about the day ahead. That morning coffee routine is not a choice you make — it is an agent you deployed, possibly years ago, that now executes on your behalf every time the trigger conditions are met. You did not design it deliberately. Most people do not. But it runs with the reliability of a program, and it runs whether you want it to or not.

Try this: For one full day, carry a small notebook or open a note on your phone. Every time you catch yourself doing something without having consciously decided to do it — reaching for your phone, opening a browser tab, snacking, checking email, cracking your knuckles, saying a particular phrase — make a tally mark and a brief label. At the end of the day, count the marks. You are looking at a partial inventory of your deployed agents. Circle the three that most surprised you. Those are the habits running your life that you never consciously approved.