The autonomous agent systems handbook

Engineer the loop.
Control the outcome.

Learn how to design AI agent systems that plan, act, evaluate, recover, and stop with purpose—not by accident.

27
core topics
5
knowledge tracks
1
human review gate
LOOP01
Plan
Act
Evaluate
Control
state: observablestop: bounded
Knowledge map

Five tracks. One operating model.

Move from definitions to production controls without losing the feedback loop that connects them.

Working definition
Loop Engineering is the discipline of designing the system that repeatedly guides, observes, evaluates, and constrains an AI agent.

The prompt is one input. The engineered loop is the operating environment around it.

Understand the complete model
Reviewed library

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Human-reviewed explanations and implementation guidance from across the knowledge map.

system design

Agent Harness Explained: The Core of Reliable AI Loops

Learn what an agent harness is, why it matters, and how it supports memory, tools, loops, tracing, and evaluation.

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reliability safety

Agent Loop Retry Patterns for Reliable Autonomous Systems

Learn how agent loop retry patterns work, when to use them, and how to avoid runaway failures in autonomous AI systems.

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system design

Agent Loop Stop Conditions: How to Make Loops End Safely

Learn how to choose stop conditions for agent loops, avoid runaway execution, and design reliable termination behavior.

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system design

Agent Loop Token Budget: How to Control Context Cost

Learn why agent loops get expensive and how to constrain context with pruning, resets, subagents, and summaries.

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system design

AI Agent Evaluation Loop: Build Reliable Systems

Learn how AI agent evaluation loops combine tracing, rubrics, and fixes to improve reliability and reduce guesswork.

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reliability safety

AI Agent Loop Guardrails: Where to Place Them

Learn where to place guardrails in AI agent loops, what they block, and how to balance safety, context, and latency.

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