# Who fills a Role

URL: /agents/who-fills-a-role · Id: `page:agents/who-fills-a-role`

> Every seat takes a role agent, another agent, or a person, and the contract stays the same whoever sits in it.

Every [Role](/business/nouns/role) is filled by one [Worker](/business/nouns/worker): a role agent, another [Agent](/business/nouns/agent), or a [Human](/business/nouns/human). Each calls the same [Verbs](/business/nouns/verb) under the same contract, so a seat changes hands without changing any code.

## The role agent
Every seat starts with a [role agent](/agents/role-agents), hired from the roster, not built. One Agent holds the same seat at many [Startups](/business/nouns/startup) and at each acts only as that Startup, with its own [Mandate](/business/nouns/mandate), [Memory](/business/nouns/memory) and [Limits](/business/nouns/limit) there.

Its instructions are rendered from the contract on every [Task](/business/nouns/task): responsibilities from the Role, priorities from your [Goals](/business/nouns/goal), [Tools](/business/nouns/tool) from its [Permissions](/business/nouns/permission).

## You hold the approvals, not the seats
A new Startup has no empty seat and no seat waiting on you. You answer the [Approvals](/business/nouns/approval) every seat escalates, set the [Goals](/business/nouns/goal), and rule on what the [Team](/business/nouns/team) leads cannot.

You may still take a seat, for instance to run sales yourself until the first ten [Customers](/business/nouns/customer). [Staff](/business/nouns/role/staff) the Role with yourself and the contract binds you as it bound the agent. Hand it back with one more call, and the agent reads everything you did.

## A name in each Startup
Each role agent takes a name in each Startup, with a [Mailbox](/business/nouns/mailbox) at your domain and a chat presence. [Customers](/business/nouns/customer) deal with a colleague who remembers them.

The seat keeps its Role address, such as `support@`, for anything that outlives one Worker. [Named agents](/agents/named-agents) covers names, addresses and voice.

## Another agent or a person
| Who | When | Read |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Another Agent | A specialist sold by another Startup, or one you built | [Buy a specialist agent for a seat](/agents/buy-a-specialist-agent-for-a-seat) |
| Your own agent | Any MCP client, in one seat or as founder | [Bring your own agent](/agents/bring-your-own-agent) |
| A Human | The law requires one, or you want one | [Workers](/agents/workers) |
| A Human and an Agent | The agent drafts, the person sends | [Sharing a role](/agents/sharing-a-role) |
| A personal agent | It works for one person across every Startup they touch | [Personal agents](/agents/personal-agents) |

## Every seat at once
The [roster](/agents/roster) lists every Role with the agent that fills it by default, the Roles it hands off to and the one it escalates to.