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Chain of Thought

Reviewed 19 July 2026Canonical definitionPart of: Agent Orchestration & Workflow Terms →

Chain of thought is the model's intermediate reasoning process when working toward an answer or action. Teams should not depend on raw chain-of-thought output as a required control or audit record.

§01 / QUESTIONSterm: Chain of Thought
Questions

Common questions.

What is Chain of Thought?

Chain of thought is the model's intermediate reasoning process when working toward an answer or action.

How does Chain of Thought work?

Teams should not depend on raw chain-of-thought output as a required control or audit record.

Which terms are related to Chain of Thought?

Closely related concepts include Pre-Training, ReAct Pattern, Agent Handoff, Agent Orchestration. Each is defined in the Prefactor glossary.

§02 / RELATEDnext: where this fits
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