Agentic GraphRAG: How does an AI agent use a knowledge graph?

Systems built on basic retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) run into a ceiling: a fixed retrieval path can’t adapt when the question or the underlying data doesn’t match what you planned for. GraphRAG closes part of that gap by connecting facts in a graph rather than scattering them across isolated chunks, so an answer can follow relationships rather than relying on similarity search alone. But a graph is only as useful as an AI application’s ability to navigate it. Agentic GraphRAG hands an AI agent the steering wheel. The agent decides where to start exploring the graph, which retrieval tool to call, how far to follow relationships, whether it has enough context to answer, and whether to write and maintain the graph as new information arrives. It’s especially useful when retrieval paths vary from question to question, when your domain keeps introducing new information, or when past decisions should inform future ones. The practical question for…