From User Operations to Agentic Automation: Toward Intent-Oriented Software in the LLM Era

Foundation Models (FMs) make possible a new software paradigm in which users express what they want to accomplish rather than how to operate an application. We call this paradigm intent-oriented software. Although recent FM capabilities suggest the feasibility of intent-oriented software, the concept itself has not been formally articulated or systematized. This article provides the first definition of intent-oriented software and examines how such systems can be engineered in practice. We propose two complementary architectural models for realizing intent-oriented software. (1) A plug-in model. Intent-oriented software operates as a middleware layer that wraps around an existing operation-oriented application. It interprets user intents and translates them into the application's existing UI operations without modifying the underlying operation-oriented software. (2) A native model. FMs interpret user intents and generate the necessary backend actions (e.g., API calls, function executions) directly without going through traditional UI. Both models aim to fundamentally transform the interaction paradigm by decoupling user intents from operational procedures, enabling users to accomplish goals without requiring procedural knowledge of application interfaces, while preserving the full functional expressiveness of underlying systems. We systemize key technical challenges, including intent understanding, execution planning, and error recovery, and identify research opportunities in software engineering to advance the development of robust, trustworthy, and user-centered intent-oriented software.