ai-agent-design

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name: ai-agent-design description: Use this skill when building AI agents, designing multi-agent systems, integrating LLMs into applications, building RAG pipelines, working with vector databases, implementing MCP servers, or designing agent communication and orchestration patterns. Trigger on keywords like: agent, LLM, RAG, embeddings, vector DB, orchestration, tool use, memory, intent clarification, MCP, LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, Microsoft Agent Framework.

AI Agent Design

Core Philosophy

Agents are not magic — they are systems with inputs, outputs, memory, tools, and decision logic. Design them with the same rigor as any production software. Every agent should have a clear purpose, defined boundaries, and explicit failure modes.

Agent Design Principles

1. Clarify Intent Before Acting

An agent must ask clarifying questions when the user's intent is ambiguous — before executing any irreversible action. Use this pattern:

• Is the goal clear? If not, ask one focused question.
• Are the constraints known? (scope, output format, data sources)
• What does success look like?

2. Specification Before Code

Before writing agent logic, generate a spec or task list file:

1. Define the agent's role and responsibilities
2. List all tools it needs access to
3. Define input/output contracts
4. Identify failure modes and fallback behavior
5. Then write the code

3. Single Responsibility

Each agent should do one thing well. Prefer a team of specialized agents over one general-purpose agent.

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Orchestration Patterns

Pattern	When to Use	Description
Sequential	Linear pipelines	Agents chain in fixed order (draft → review → publish)
Supervisor	Complex multi-module tasks	Lead agent routes to specialized workers
ReAct	Autonomous problem solving	Combines reasoning (Thought) + acting (Tool Use)
Group Chat	Collaborative tasks	Multi-agent communication with human oversight
DAG	Stateful workflows	Directed acyclic graph for cyclical, stateful orchestration

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Framework Selection Guide

Framework	Best For	Status
LangGraph	Complex stateful agents, cyclical workflows, multi-agent orchestration, production-grade	✅ Active — GA May 2025
LangChain	Simple RAG pipelines, linear workflows, quick prototypes	✅ Active — use for RAG, not for agents
CrewAI	Role-based multi-agent teams ("Manager", "Researcher", "Writer")	✅ Active
Microsoft Agent Framework	Enterprise agents in Azure ecosystem — replaces AutoGen + Semantic Kernel	✅ Active — Public Preview Oct 2025, GA targeted Q1 2026
AutoGen	Legacy — still works but no new features	⚠️ Maintenance mode since Oct 2025
Custom (MCP)	Lightweight, portable, interoperable agent tools via open standard	✅ Active

LangChain vs LangGraph — Which to Use

The LangChain team now explicitly recommends this split:

• LangGraph → for agents: stateful, cyclical, multi-agent, long-running tasks
• LangChain → for RAG and linear pipelines: simple document Q&A, step-by-step transforms

LangGraph is built on top of LangChain — you can use both together, starting with LangChain and dropping to LangGraph when you need more control.

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RAG Pipeline Design

Standard RAG Flow

User Query → Embed Query → Vector Search → Retrieve Chunks → Augment Prompt → LLM → Response

Chunking Strategy (2026 Best Practice)

• Use semantic chunking — break on meaning, not character count
• Chunk size: 256–512 tokens for precision; 1024 for narrative content
• Always include metadata: source, page, section, timestamp

Hybrid Search (Recommended)

Combine dense vectors (semantic) + sparse vectors (keyword) for best recall:

Final Score = α × Dense Score + (1 - α) × Sparse Score

Vector Database Selection

DB	Best For
pgvector	Existing PostgreSQL stack, simple use cases
Pinecone	Managed, production-scale, minimal ops
Weaviate	Multi-modal, hybrid search built-in
Milvus	High-performance, self-hosted, large scale
Chroma	Local dev, prototyping

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Agent Memory Architecture

Type	Description	Implementation
In-context	Current conversation window	Chat history array
External short-term	Session-scoped memory	Redis / in-memory store
External long-term	Persistent across sessions	Vector DB + metadata
Episodic	Summarized past interactions	Summarization chain → vector store

Context Rot Warning: Long context windows degrade agent quality over time. Implement a summarization step every N turns to maintain relevance.

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Tool Use & Function Calling

Tool Definition Pattern

Every tool needs:

name: descriptive_tool_name
description: When to use this tool and what it does (be explicit)
parameters:
  - name: param_name
    type: string
    description: What this parameter expects
    required: true

Tool Use Best Practices

• Tools should be idempotent where possible
• Always validate tool outputs before passing to the next step
• Implement timeouts and retries for external tool calls
• Log all tool invocations for debugging

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Agent Communication Patterns

Intent Clarification Protocol

When an agent receives an ambiguous request:

1. Identify the ambiguity — what specifically is unclear?
2. Ask one question — the most important one, not all of them
3. Propose a default — "I'll assume X unless you tell me otherwise"
4. Confirm before irreversible actions — always ask before deleting, publishing, or sending

Progress Reporting

For long-running tasks, agents should report:

[Step 1/4] Fetching documents... ✓
[Step 2/4] Chunking and embedding... ✓
[Step 3/4] Querying vector store...

Error Communication

✗ Tool failed: [tool_name]
Reason: [specific error]
Fallback: [what I'm doing instead]

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MCP (Model Context Protocol)

MCP is the open standard for connecting agents to external tools and data sources. Use it when building portable, interoperable agent tools.

MCP Server Structure

my-mcp-server/
├── server.py (or index.ts)
├── tools/
│   └── my_tool.py
└── README.md

When to Use MCP vs Direct Integration

• Use MCP when the tool needs to be reusable across multiple agents/platforms
• Use direct integration for project-specific, one-off tool implementations

See mcp-builder skill for detailed MCP server implementation guidance.

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Security & Safety

• Never allow agents to execute arbitrary code without sandboxing
• Implement rate limiting on all LLM API calls
• Validate and sanitize all inputs before passing to tools
• Log all agent decisions for auditability
• Implement guardrails to prevent runaway token costs or recursive loops
• Use system prompt injection protection — separate user input from system instructions with clear delimiters

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Resilient Agent Design (Self-Healing)

Agents fail in production. Design for recovery from the start.

Validate-and-Retry Loop (LoopAgent Pattern)

Generate output → Validate output → If invalid: feedback + regenerate
Max iterations: 3  ← circuit breaker to prevent infinite loops

Plan–Validate–Execute–Observe–Replan

PLAN:     Generate plan, check feasibility before acting
EXECUTE:  Take action
OBSERVE:  Did it succeed? Check outputs, run tests
REPLAN:   If observation shows failure → adjust and retry
STOP:     If max retries hit → report failure clearly, ask for help

Agent Fallback Hierarchy

Primary approach fails → Try alternative approach
Alternative fails     → Request clarification from developer
Clarification absent  → Safe default action or graceful stop

Output Validation Before Presenting

• Run tests/lint on generated code before presenting
• Verify output format matches requirements
• Use a separate validator step (different model or prompt) to check generator output
• Never present unverified output as done

Circuit Breaker for Agents

Set hard limits to prevent runaway behavior:

• Max tool call iterations per task (e.g. 10)
• Max token spend per session
• Max retries per failing step (e.g. 3)
• Timeout per tool invocation

See self-healing-mindset skill for the full resilience philosophy and code patterns.