In short
AI agents from EDA vendors do engineering work inside that vendor's tools: writing tests, fixing violations, closing timing. They do not hold the program's date, because the date depends on things outside those tools — the foundry, firmware, suppliers and other vendors' flows. A program layer sits above all of them and holds the whole program to one date.
What do EDA agents do?
They automate engineering tasks within a tool flow. That is valuable: it speeds up work that was slow and manual.
Where do they stop?
At the edge of the vendor's tools. An agent closing timing does not know that the IP it is waiting on has slipped, that the shuttle date has moved, or that firmware is planned against the old samples date. Most teams also use tools from more than one vendor.
Are they competitors to a program layer?
No. They are participants in the program, like the engineers. Their commitments should sit in the same record as everyone else's, with the same identity and the same accountability for the date.
What does the program layer add?
It reads every vendor's tools together with the fab, firmware and supplier communications, and holds all of it to one date. Tymeline is that layer.