API
An API (application programming interface) is the official entrance through which software talks to other software: fetching, creating or changing data without a human clicking.
Your accounting, web store and CRM almost all have an API. That means an integration or an AI agent can work with them directly: reading an order, creating an invoice, updating a stock level. Reliable, because it goes through the front door rather than by imitating screens.
If a system has no API, connecting becomes fragile or impossible. That is why "does it have an API?" is the first question in any automation.
Other terms
Webhook
A webhook is a signal one system sends to another the moment something happens, for example "there is a new order", so the receiving system does not have to keep asking.
LLM (large language model)
An LLM is the AI model that understands and writes text, such as the models behind ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. It is the engine under an AI agent, not the agent itself.
RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)
RAG is the technique where an AI model first looks up the relevant passages in your own documents and answers with those, so the answer is based on your information and has a source.
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