traigent-boost-agent

name	traigent-boost-agent
description	End-to-end lifecycle playbook — from a single decorated function to a full 12-step codebase onboarding — for adding Traigent to an existing client agent codebase and measurably boosting accuracy, cost, latency, or reliability. Use when asked to add Traigent to this agent, onboard this agent to Traigent end-to-end, run a full agent-build lifecycle, wire an evaluator and optimize, boost accuracy/cost of an existing agent codebase, select TVARs with recommend_configuration_space(), choose composite knobs by agent shape, instrument @traigent.optimize minimally, validate in mock mode, run real optimization with budgets, inspect results, iterate, gate a promoted config, optimize a function with @traigent.optimize, run an optimization, or set up Traigent optimization. ALWAYS start with dry-run (mock mode) to validate the full pipeline, then switch to real execution only when the user explicitly requests it.
license	Apache-2.0
metadata	{"author":"Nimrod","version":"2.1.6"}

Traigent Boost Agent

Your Role

When a user asks you to optimize a function or agent with Traigent, always start with a dry run. Real optimization costs real tokens and money. Never run real optimization until the user explicitly asks. Present a cost estimate and get the user's explicit approval before any paid run.

Workflow:

1. Set up the decorated function (for a single function, see the Fast Path below; for a whole codebase, Steps 1-7 of the 12-Step Lifecycle Playbook)
2. Validate dataset, config space, and providers
3. Dry-run in mock mode — verify the full pipeline end-to-end at zero cost
4. Report what the dry run found, estimate real costs
5. Wait for the user to say "run it for real"

When to Use

Requires traigent>=0.13.0 (the knobs API is present on all current SDK releases).

Use this skill when the user asks you to:

• "add Traigent to this agent"
• "optimize this agent"
• "boost accuracy/cost of an existing agent codebase"
• "onboard this agent to Traigent end-to-end"
• "full agent-build lifecycle"
• "wire an evaluator and optimize"
• instrument an existing LLM, RAG, tool-using, coding, or multi-stage agent with Traigent
• choose tuned variables and composite knobs for a real client codebase

For detailed grep patterns and evidence-mining heuristics, read references/codebase-analysis.md. For a minimal before/after implementation recipe, read references/instrument-recipe.md. For insight and iteration code, read references/insights-and-iteration.md.

Fast Path: Optimize a Single Function

For a single decorated function (rather than a whole codebase), run this condensed dry-run-first sequence; the 12-Step Lifecycle Playbook below is the full-codebase version.

Step 1: Set Up the Decorator

The user's function needs four things: dataset, objectives, config space, and the function itself.

import traigent
import litellm  # pip install "traigent[integrations]>=0.19" — the canonical runnable LLM call
from traigent import Choices, Range

@traigent.optimize(
    eval_dataset="eval_data.jsonl",                    # 1. Dataset
    objectives=["accuracy"],                           # 2. What to optimize
    model=Choices(["gpt-4o-mini", "gpt-4o"]),          # 3. Config space (inline)
    temperature=Range(0.0, 1.0),
)
def my_function(query: str) -> str:                    # 4. The function
    config = traigent.get_config()
    resp = litellm.completion(
        model=config["model"],
        temperature=config["temperature"],
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": query}],
    )
    return resp.choices[0].message.content

One runnable body, reused everywhere. The litellm.completion(...) → resp.choices[0].message.content body above is the canonical, copy-paste-runnable function used across these skills. Reuse it verbatim wherever an example shows my_function/agent body — it runs keyless under mock mode (LiteLLM is intercepted) and unchanged for a real run. Optimize accuracy and cost? cost and latency are built-in objectives auto-derived from token accounting, so use objectives=["accuracy", "cost"] — no extra evaluator needed. See traigent-setup-quickstart for the full copy-paste example, traigent-optimize-config-space for Range/Choices/IntRange/LogRange/constraints, and traigent-setup-decorator for EvaluationOptions/InjectionOptions/ExecutionOptions.

Setup Mistakes to Catch

Mistake	SDK catches?	Fix
Config values as bare strings (model="gpt-4")	Yes — TypeError	Must be list or Range/Choices (model=Choices(["gpt-4"]))
get_config() called outside the function	Yes — OptimizationStateError	Must be inside the decorated function body
Dataset file doesn't exist	Yes — ValidationError	Create it or fix the path
Empty objectives list	No — silently defaults	Verify objectives has at least one entry before running
Function doesn't return a value	No — None scored silently	Assert your function returns the prediction; None produces meaningless scores

Step 2: Validate Before Running

Use the SDK's built-in validation tools before any optimization:

traigent validate eval_data.jsonl --objectives accuracy -v   # dataset: valid JSON, `input` field (+ `output` for accuracy-like metrics); 5+ examples, 10-20+ recommended
traigent info                                                 # SDK version, Python version, enabled features
traigent algorithms                                           # Available algorithms with descriptions and best-use cases
traigent check my_script.py --dry-run                         # discovers @traigent.optimize functions; validates decorator wiring only, not dataset contents

Step 3: Run Mock Optimization

Enable mock mode in code, then run the full optimization pipeline end to end (decorator wiring, config sampling, dataset loading, trial execution, scoring) with LLM calls intercepted. Mock mode is hard-blocked when ENVIRONMENT=production. For mock-mode setup mechanics and scope (what is and isn't intercepted, mock vs offline), see traigent-setup-quickstart.

Mock dry-runs still consume the plan's optimization_samples quota, and mock intercepts LiteLLM/LangChain calls only — raw openai/anthropic clients are NOT intercepted and still bill. See traigent-debugging for the quota entry and hermetic-startup env vars (TRAIGENT_MOCK_LLM, TRAIGENT_OFFLINE_MODE, LITELLM_LOCAL_MODEL_COST_MAP).

import os
os.environ["TRAIGENT_OFFLINE_MODE"] = "true"   # Skip Traigent backend calls

import traigent
from traigent.testing import enable_mock_mode_for_quickstart

enable_mock_mode_for_quickstart()              # Mock LLM responses (dev-only)

# Same @traigent.optimize-decorated my_function as Step 1 —
# its litellm.completion(...) call is intercepted automatically in mock mode.
results = my_function.optimize_sync(max_trials=4, algorithm="random")

print(f"Trials ran:    {len(results.trials)}")
print(f"Failed trials: {len(results.failed_trials)}")
print(f"Stop reason:   {results.stop_reason}")
print(f"Best config:   {results.best_config}")
print(f"Best score:    {results.best_score}")

Interpret Mock Results

Check	Pass	Fail
Trials ran	len(results.trials) > 0	No trials = config space or dataset error
No failures	len(results.failed_trials) == 0	Failures = function or evaluator bug
Stop reason	"max_trials_reached" or "optimizer"	"error" = something broke
Config keys	Expected keys in best_config	Missing keys = config space mismatch

Score interpretation depends on evaluator type: a config-aware scorer (reads traigent.get_config()) produces meaningful varied scores even in mock mode; an output-based/deterministic scorer (exact-match, JSON-schema, execution accuracy) sees the mock LLM's constant response and scores uniformly 0.0.

WARNING — uniform 0.0 under mock is plumbing-OK, not a failure: If your scorer is output-based (exact-match, SQL execution accuracy, JSON-schema, etc.) and all mock scores are 0.0, that is the correct expected result: the mock returns a constant string that no deterministic scorer can score positively. Focus on whether trials ran without errors (failed_trials == 0), not on the 0.0 score values.

For a varied score spread without real LLM calls, wire a config-aware mock-only demo scorer (delete it for the real run) — see traigent-setup-quickstart (mock_demo_accuracy) for the recipe.

If mock fails, set export TRAIGENT_DEBUG=1 for debug logging, fix decorator args for ConfigurationError (see mistakes table above), and see traigent-debugging (references/mock-mode.md) for the full mock failure diagnosis (evaluation errors, get_config() outside optimization context, missing integrations extra, all-trials-failed).

Do not proceed to real mode until mock passes cleanly.

Step 3.5: Evaluator Sanity Gate

Before the first paid run, verify the metric actually separates a correct output from a wrong one. This costs nothing — no LLM calls — but catches the single most expensive silent failure mode: an evaluation metric that swallows exceptions or silently returns 0.0 for every config (making the agent look broken when the metric is broken).

# `my_metric` is the scoring_function / metric you pass to @traigent.optimize.
# Use literal good/bad examples for YOUR task — no LLM call needed (that's the point).
expected_output = "the expected answer for one example"   # your gold label
known_good      = "a known-correct output for that example"  # e.g. the gold answer itself
known_bad       = "obviously wrong or empty output"

assert my_metric(known_good, expected_output) >= 0.9, (
    "metric does not reward a correct output — fix before running real optimization"
)
assert my_metric(known_bad, expected_output) <= 0.1, (
    "metric does not penalize a wrong output — fix before running real optimization"
)

For a custom_evaluator / BaseEvaluator, call .evaluate([good_example]) and .evaluate([bad_example]) directly and assert the returned metrics separate. Use one known-good + one known-bad example only — this is a smoke gate, not a full audit.

If both assertions pass: the metric wires correctly — proceed to Step 4.

If either fails: fix the metric before spending tokens. Common causes: wrong field name in the result, inverted logic (> vs <), exception swallowed to 0.0. See traigent-eval-build for diagnostic steps. For LLM-judge metrics, see traigent-eval-audit for the full reliability protocol.

Step 3.6: Tiny Real Cost and KPI Probe

After mock mode and the evaluator sanity gate pass, run one tiny real optimization before any full run: 1-2 dataset examples, minimal trials, and the cheapest candidate model (pennies, not dollars). Check both surfaces: results.total_cost must be neither None nor 0.0 with real calls (both mean cost is not wired), and each trial's metrics must contain the declared objectives with non-degenerate values (not all 0.0/all 1.0). If either surface fails, wire it before scaling up — see traigent-optimize-run → Cost Wiring Probe for the fix ladder (custom model pricing env vars, per-trial cost metrics, strict accounting).

Step 4: Report and Estimate Costs

After a successful mock run, tell the user:

1. Pipeline validated — trials, config space, dataset all working
2. Config space size — how many unique configurations
3. Estimated LLM calls — max_trials x dataset_size (upper bound)
4. Cost limit — default $2.00 USD per run (TRAIGENT_RUN_COST_LIMIT)
5. Ask for go/no-go

Example:

Mock run passed: 4/4 trials, 0 failures, pipeline is valid.

Config space: 2 models x continuous temperature. With max_trials=10 and 15 dataset examples, that's up to 150 LLM calls.

Default cost limit is $2.00 USD. Want me to run it for real? This will use your API keys and cost real tokens.

Step 5: Run Real Optimization (Only When Asked)

When the user explicitly says to proceed:

Verify API keys first — models in the config space need corresponding provider keys, and Traigent auto-validates them before starting, raising ProviderValidationError with details if validation fails:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."         # For gpt-* models
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."  # For claude-* models
export GEMINI_API_KEY="..."            # For gemini-* models

Then skip the mock-mode activation and set cost controls:

import os

# Just don't call enable_mock_mode_for_quickstart() this run.
# Mock mode is process-local — start a fresh interpreter for the
# real run if the previous one had it on.
os.environ.pop("TRAIGENT_OFFLINE_MODE", None)

# Cost limit — default $2.00 USD per run
os.environ["TRAIGENT_RUN_COST_LIMIT"] = "2.00"

# Real runs are blocked by the cost-approval gate until this is set.
# Set it ONLY after the user has seen the cost estimate and explicitly
# approved the spend — never set it preemptively on the user's behalf.
os.environ["TRAIGENT_COST_APPROVED"] = "true"

Algorithm selector. For connected real runs, omit algorithm or use algorithm="auto". In SDK 0.20.0, auto is the reliable connected path to real cloud Optuna TPE. Use algorithm="grid" / "random" only for explicit local/offline search.

Named smart selectors are not yet executable end-to-end. bayesian (and the rest of the Optuna/Bayesian family, incl. tpe/cmaes/nsga2) validate as known names but fail before any trial runs. With offline=True, the decorator raises ConfigurationError; the local optimizer registry raises OptimizationError. In connected SDK 0.20.0 runs, the SDK does not execute or transmit the named selector on the default typed path and self-aborts before backend guidance (Traigent/Traigent#1752); the backend would reject the name if it arrived. Use auto for connected smart optimization.

from traigent.utils.exceptions import CostLimitExceeded, OptimizationError

try:
    # Connected real run: omit algorithm or use "auto". Smart selector names
    # like "bayesian" are roadmap and fail before any trial runs.
    results = my_function.optimize_sync(max_trials=10, algorithm="auto")
except CostLimitExceeded as e:
    print(f"Budget hit: ${e.accumulated:.2f} / ${e.limit:.2f}")
    print("Increase TRAIGENT_RUN_COST_LIMIT to allow more spending.")
    raise
except OptimizationError as e:
    print(f"Optimization could not run: {e}")
    raise

print(f"Best config:  {results.best_config}")
print(f"Best score:   {results.best_score}")
if results.total_cost:
    print(f"Total cost:   ${results.total_cost:.2f}")
else:
    # None or 0.0 after real calls = cost is NOT wired (see Step 3.6) —
    # say so loudly instead of hiding the row.
    print("Total cost:   NOT TRACKED — wire cost before the next run (Step 3.6)")
print(f"Duration:     {results.duration:.1f}s")
print(f"Stop reason:  {results.stop_reason}")

Never mock the real run. Before reporting these numbers, confirm this wasn't a mock/offline run in disguise — total_cost should be positive and per-trial outputs should vary, not the mock's constant response / uniform scores. See traigent-optimize-run → "Never mock the real run" for the full check and recovery steps.

For algorithm choices, parallel execution, and further cost-limit controls, cross-reference traigent-optimize-run; for interpreting OptimizationResult beyond this snippet, cross-reference traigent-analyze-results. Do not promote the winner straight into production: export it as a candidate, check it on a held-out slice (see traigent-ci-safety-gate for the promotion gate and CI checks), and apply only after the gate and the user's explicit approval:

# Export the winning config as a CANDIDATE artifact for review/gating
my_function.export_config("candidate_config.json")

# After the holdout/promotion gate passes and the user approves:
my_function.apply_best_config(results)
answer = my_function("What is Python?")

Quick Reference

	Mock (Dry Run)	Real
Activation	traigent.testing.enable_mock_mode_for_quickstart()	(don't call it)
TRAIGENT_OFFLINE_MODE	true	unset
API keys needed	No	Yes
LLM calls	Mocked	Real
Cost	$0	Real tokens
Scores meaningful	Custom scorer recommended (built-in mock returns generic text)	Yes
Production-safe	Hard-blocked when ENVIRONMENT=production	—
Use when	Always first	After mock passes

The 12-Step Lifecycle Playbook

1. ANALYZE the client codebase before writing code.

   • Find LLM call sites, prompt construction, retrieval steps, tool loops, validators, judges, retries, and postprocessors.
   • Useful greps: raw SDK calls (chat.completions.create, responses.create, messages.create), framework calls (ChatOpenAI, ChatAnthropic, Runnable, AgentExecutor, create_react_agent, litellm.completion), retrieval (similarity_search, as_retriever, rerank), and loop/control terms (tool_calls, function_call, critic, judge, repair, retry).
   • Identify the agent SHAPE: single LLM call, cheap-vs-expensive model path, multi-stage chain, input router, tool loop, generate-then-check, specialists, fallback, or iterative refinement.
   • Pick the smallest function enclosing the scoreable agent behavior. Do not decorate an app route, auth layer, retry wrapper, or generic provider client if the actual input/output to evaluate is higher level.
   • Use references/codebase-analysis.md for grep patterns, shape markers, and codebase-specific evidence mining.

2. CURATE the evaluation dataset.

   • Start from existing fixtures, golden sets, accepted traces, support tickets, or redacted logs before synthesizing new examples.
   • Reserve the holdout slice BEFORE the first optimization run and record the partition (tuning slice / optional exemplar bank / holdout slice); if none exists yet, create one before any result counts as promotion-ready.
   • Keep tuning and holdout slices separate, stratify by known input classes, and report sample count, source, label quality, and exclusions.
   • Use JSONL with scoreable input and output fields when a built-in evaluator can score the task.
   • Mock/offline-check a tiny slice before any backend generation or paid provider work.
   • DELEGATE: traigent-dataset-curate owns dataset recipes, growth, example scoring, and quality loops.

3. CHOOSE the metric.

   • Decide what "good" means before writing optimizer code: task success, correctness, cost, latency, safety, reliability, or a measured combination.
   • Prefer built-in objective names when they match the product decision; use custom metric functions only when domain logic is checkable and necessary.
   • Default: at least one objective labeled accuracy (built-in objective or your metric_functions key). If accuracy doesn't apply to this problem, name the primary quality KPI after the product concept and note why accuracy was skipped.
   • Treat must-not-violate behavior as a safety constraint or promotion gate, not as an ordinary objective to trade away.
   • DELEGATE: traigent-eval-choose-metric owns the metric interview and objective vocabulary.

4. WIRE OR BUILD the evaluator.

   • Use the wire-first ladder: eval_dataset -> scoring_function -> metric_functions -> custom_evaluator -> BaseEvaluator.
   • Start deterministic when the task has ground truth or checkable domain logic; use LLM judges only when deterministic scoring cannot express the quality target.
   • Audit any LLM judge before trusting it to drive optimization.
   • DELEGATE: traigent-eval-build owns evaluator code; traigent-eval-audit owns judge reliability checks.

5. SELECT TVARS from the public recommendation catalog.

   • Use only the real SDK helpers:

from traigent.config_generator.recommendations import (
    RECOMMENDATION_CAVEAT,
    list_recommendation_agent_types,
    recommend_configuration_space,
)

valid_agent_types = list_recommendation_agent_types()
recommendations = recommend_configuration_space(
    "code_gen",  # or "rag"
    min_impact=None,
    min_confidence=None,
)
configuration_space = recommendations["configuration_space"]
print(recommendations["caveat"] or RECOMMENDATION_CAVEAT)

• Valid public agent types are returned by list_recommendation_agent_types(); the current catalog exposes code_gen and rag.

• Treat RECOMMENDATION_CAVEAT as mandatory user-facing context: recommendations are search-space starting points, not universal performance claims.

• For coding agents, recommend_configuration_space("code_gen") includes the agent_computer_interface knob pack: repo_context_strategy, file_view_window, edit_granularity, test_selection_strategy, and patch_review_mode. Its CVAR vocabulary and manual runtime guidance live in each row's apply_guidance.
• For long-context/RAG agents, recommend_configuration_space("rag") includes retrieval_k plus the context_budget knob pack: context_selection_policy, context_order, summary_style, compression_ratio, and citation_policy. Its CVAR vocabulary and manual runtime guidance also live in apply_guidance.
• For range syntax, constraints, and typed parameters, cross-reference traigent-optimize-config-space instead of duplicating it.
• Catalog fallback: if the client's agent shape matches no catalog type (e.g. a single-call classifier — neither code_gen nor rag), drive the configuration space from the client's REAL knobs (prompt/style variants, temperature, sample count) instead of forcing a catalog type. Still print the caveat; note in the report that the space is client-derived.

6. SELECT A COMPOSITE with this SHAPE-to-PATTERN decision table.

Agent shape	Composite pattern	Use when
Single LLM call with sampling upside	self_consistency or best_of_n	Repeated candidates can improve a vote or judge-selected answer.
Cheap-vs-expensive model choice	binary_cascade	Start cheap and escalate to expert only when the margin is weak.
Multi-stage chain	n_cascade	Ordered stages escalate through three or more arms.
Input classes need different handling	router	Dispatch before execution using input adequacy or class signals.
Tool loop	react_tool_loop	The agent plans one tool step per iteration and stops on confidence.
Generate-then-check	verification_gate	Draft, verify, and revise based on a verifier pass score.
Multiple specialist prompts/models	moe	Several experts answer and a vote or judge aggregates them.
Primary plus backup	fallback	Try a primary path, then backup arms on no-accept or low margin.
Iterative draft improvement	self_refine / bounded_refine_loop	Improve a threaded draft until an acceptance signal passes or a literal iteration cap is hit.

• For exact factory signatures, StageRunner/LoopBodyRunner wiring, execute_composite, and telemetry, cross-reference traigent-optimize-composite-knobs; do not duplicate its catalog.
• DELEGATE: traigent-optimize-composite-knobs owns composite factory details and runtime wiring.

7. INSTRUMENT minimally and preserve behavior.
   • Wrap the chosen scoreable function with @traigent.optimize.
   • Keep the original function signature stable: same name and input parameters. If production callers require a plain output but evaluation returns (output, metrics), add a thin outer adapter rather than changing the call-site inputs.
   • Merge catalog recommendations, local knobs, and composite members:

CONFIGURATION_SPACE = {
    **recommendations["configuration_space"],
    "model": ["gpt-4o-mini", "gpt-4o"],
    "temperature": [0.0, 0.2, 0.7],
    "candidate_count": [1, 2, 3],
    **COMPOSITE.members,
}

• Inside the function, read cfg = traigent.get_config(), route tuned values into the real prompt/retriever/tool/model call, execute the composite if selected, and return exactly (output, metrics) when you need per-trial numeric measures.

• Keep metrics content-free where required: accuracy, pass rate, cost, latency, token counts, route ids, iteration counts, and composite telemetry are fine. Do not put prompts, answers, retrieved documents, secrets, or PII into metrics.

• Use references/instrument-recipe.md for the smallest before/after code diff.

8. VALIDATE in mock mode FIRST.

   • Cross-reference traigent-setup-quickstart and traigent-debugging for mock/offline setup.
   • Use from traigent.testing import enable_mock_mode_for_quickstart plus TRAIGENT_OFFLINE_MODE=true for keyless development.
   • Confirm dataset loading, config sampling, stage wiring, tuple-return unpacking, and zero failed trials before real provider calls.
   • Machine-checkable success contract — assert this instead of eyeballing the table: assert results.trials, "no trials ran" · assert not getattr(results, "failed_trials", []), f"failed trials: {results.failed_trials}" · assert results.best_config is not None, "no best config selected".
   • Mock reality: mock still consumes optimization_samples quota; exact/execution-match scorers read uniform 0.0 under mock (expected, not broken); raw openai/anthropic clients are not intercepted and still bill.
   • DELEGATE: traigent-setup-quickstart owns first-run setup; traigent-debugging owns mock/offline failure diagnosis.

9. OPTIMIZE for real only with cost limits and explicit approval.

   • Cross-reference traigent-optimize-run for func.optimize(), optimize_sync(), algorithms, max_trials, parallelism, and CostLimitExceeded.
   • Set an explicit TRAIGENT_RUN_COST_LIMIT and verify provider keys before the real run. If a Traigent backend is used, set TRAIGENT_API_KEY and TRAIGENT_BACKEND_URL as appropriate for the client environment. See Getting your Traigent API key if you have not yet obtained TRAIGENT_API_KEY.
   • Present a cost estimate and get the user's explicit approval before any paid run. The approval signal depends on context: interactive real runs are gated by TRAIGENT_COST_APPROVED=true (set only after the user approves the estimate); CI/offline runs (including mock wiring checks under CI=true) require TRAIGENT_RUN_APPROVED=1 instead — see traigent-ci-safety-gate.
   • Start with a bounded trial budget, keep the current production baseline in the search space, and save results artifacts for audit.
   • DELEGATE: traigent-optimize-run owns algorithms, budgets, and execution controls.

10. INSIGHT: configurations AND examples.

• Configuration side: start with get_optimization_insights(results), then use traigent-analyze-variable-importance for importance-backed knob ranking.
• Example side: use ExampleInsightsClient to compute example scores, read scores, and read dataset-quality metadata. Its reportable scope is non-signal metadata; do not claim hidden difficulty, informativeness, ambiguity, or causal signal values.
• As of 0.21.0 (present since 0.13.x), importing ExampleInsightsClient from core traigent.analytics emits a DeprecationWarning pointing at the traigent-analytics plugin — but the plugin does not export this class, so keep the core import and ignore the warning for this class. If the plugin IS installed, the core shim stops exposing the class; use the deep import from traigent.analytics.example_insights import ExampleInsightsClient (see the verified import note in traigent-dataset-curate).
• Report baseline vs results.best_config delta for the agreed metrics, cost, token use, trial count, failed trials, and results.stop_reason.
• Use traigent-analyze-results for OptimizationResult inspection and traigent-analyze-variable-importance to explain which knobs mattered.

• If results are flat, noisy, failed, or negative, call it a no-boost result. Do not hide it or promote a winner that does not beat the baseline on the evaluation dataset.

• When wire-proofing against a Traigent backend, expect the run's configuration-record count to differ from len(results.trials) — the backend de-duplicates/aggregates repeated configs. Assert your claims (e.g. composite telemetry present) over the RETURNED records, and note that aggregate results.total_cost can be None even when per-trial cost measures are 0.0.
• Full code lives in references/insights-and-iteration.md.
• DELEGATE: traigent-analyze-results owns result-object depth; traigent-analyze-variable-importance owns richer TVAR importance reporting.

11. RECOMMEND the most promising next steps.

• Point at the symptom-to-action table in references/insights-and-iteration.md and choose one next hypothesis, not a bundle of unrelated changes.
• Use example-side findings only as evidence for targeted curation or heldout checks.
• Planned: a backend next-steps endpoint may eventually package these recommendations; until then, use the manual symptom-to-action table.
• DELEGATE: traigent-analyze-guidance owns post-run next-action selection.

12. COMPLETE: recommend the safety gate and CI checks.

• In-run safety_constraints is planned but not yet implemented (raises NotImplementedError at decoration time — see traigent-ci-safety-gate); do not teach it as usable today.
• Use PromotionGate for candidate-vs-incumbent decisions on the same holdout — the working gating mechanism today.
• Recommend SAFETY and EFFICIENCY CI jobs before promotion: holdout regression for safety, plus cost and latency budget checks for efficiency.
• DELEGATE: traigent-ci-safety-gate owns safety constraints, promotion gates, and CI recipes.

Claim scope

• End-to-end optimization results are observations from the client's evaluation dataset and run conditions.
• Insights are observations, not causes, unless supported by parameter-importance evidence.
• Gate decisions are statistical decisions on the evaluation dataset.
• Per-variable calibration certificates are the only procedural calibration claims; they do not certify future product behavior.
• Acceptable winner wording: Calibration-backed winner (client-attested).
• Never say guarantee, never imply universal lift, and never present catalog recommendations as proof that the client agent will improve.

Traigent Interaction Policy

Track an interaction profile and adapt to it. Persona (stable): control=delegate|guided|inspect, expertise=se|ds|unknown. Mood (this session): pace=execute|balanced|explore. Default when unknown: guided,se,balanced. Infer from explicit user statements first, then recent behavior; an explicit correction wins immediately. Never store or send this profile anywhere by default.

Fetch the live profile (when available)

At session or skill start, if a configured Traigent client is available, seed the profile from the backend with the skill name:

policy = None
try: policy = await client.get_interaction_policy(skill="<this skill>")
except Exception: pass

Treat the returned profile as the STARTING seed: its control/expertise/pace axes plus question_budget, options_max, and jargon_level replace the static defaults below. Explicit user corrections in-conversation ALWAYS override the seed. If the call is unavailable or fallback_policy="static_v1", simply use the static defaults below; the SDK already fails soft.

• Always be concise.
• Match terminology to expertise. For se: plain engineering words; define each Traigent or statistics term once in plain language (no Bayesian / variance-decomposition / Pareto jargon unless asked). For ds: compact optimization and statistical terms are fine.
• Presenting options: show at most 3, mark exactly one Recommended, and give one short persona-appropriate trade-off per option.
• Autonomy. For delegate or execute: pick the recommended reversible action and proceed, asking only at hard gates. For guided: offer options with a recommendation at the key decisions. For inspect or explore: give brief rationale or evidence before asking, and ask before branch choices.
• Hard gates — always confirm regardless of persona: paid or provider model calls, sending data or private content off the machine, destructive edits, decisions the Traigent service is meant to return, and any missing fact the step truly requires.
• Always end by recommending the next Traigent skill or action to take.
• Never weaken Traigent safety: dry-run before any paid run; get explicit approval before real cost or before any data leaves the machine; treat service-returned plans and next steps as authoritative. Never put the persona profile or any private content into telemetry, run metadata, experiment names, logs, or provenance files.