Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) present different prompt and delayed emission properties which might suggest a possible taxonomy. Nonetheless, the existence of different classes could be the combined effect of different intrinsic and/or observational conditions. The latter, in particular, are related to the instrumental capabilities. For this reason, we studied the instrumental sensitivity of the AGILE satellite as a function of the spectral properties of GRBs. AGILE will be able to detect most of the bright‐long bursts and its two detectors, with their independent trigger algorithms, compensate each other in detecting soft and high energy GRBs. Moreover, AGILE will possibly give a major contribution in the study of very energetic bursts with typical peak energies above ∼ 1 MeV. © 2004 American Institute of Physics