Flow and state
Stages, decisions, required memory, stopping conditions, retry rules, and treatment of failures.
We build systems that retrieve knowledge, use tools, execute multi-step workflows, and request approval when needed. The objective is not a convincing demo. It is an observable, testable operation aligned with task risk.
Agents make sense when a task requires interpretation, search, tool selection, and adaptation. For deterministic flows, simple automation is usually safer and cheaper.
The model is only one component. Behavior emerges from the contract among tools, state, permissions, recovery, and evaluation.
Stages, decisions, required memory, stopping conditions, retry rules, and treatment of failures.
Validated APIs, controlled permissions, idempotency, clear limits, and integration tests.
Ingestion, retrieval, citations, updates, access control, and response-quality evaluation.
Traces, case banks, evaluators, deterministic checks, and gates for validated versions.
Each phase must reduce a concrete uncertainty: usefulness, quality, integration, safety, or cost.
Volume, variability, value, risk, data, and the conditions under which the agent must refuse or escalate.
A minimal flow, simulated tools, and complete observation of decisions before critical integrations.
Real and adversarial cases, quality by dimension, permissions, cost, latency, and recoverable failures.
Gradual rollout, human approval, alerts, audit trails, and continuous review of the case bank.
No. An agent typically maintains state, chooses actions, and uses tools to advance a task. A question-answering chat may be better implemented as straightforward RAG.
The choice depends on integrations, data requirements, latency, cost, and portability. We avoid unnecessary model lock-in when a stable interface is enough.
We apply least privilege, argument validation, isolated environments, action limits, and human approval before irreversible operations.
Describe the current workflow, systems involved, volume, exceptions, and impact of a wrong decision. We will assess whether an agent is the right solution.