When I build an AI agent, I do not start by asking, Which model should I use? I start by designing the system around the model.



The model provides reasoning and language capabilities. The surrounding architecture determines whether the agent is reliable, controllable, and production ready.



This is the approach I follow:

𝟏. 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥: I select the model based on reasoning capability, task complexity, latency, cost, and context requirements.

𝟐. 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬: I give the agent well-defined tools with strict schemas, validation, permissions, and predictable outputs.

𝟑. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭: I carefully control the information provided to the model through retrieval, memory, conversation state, and structured context.

𝟒. 𝐎𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: I define how the agent reasons, when it can call tools, when it should retry, when it should ask for clarification, and when it must stop.

𝟓. 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬: I validate inputs, tool calls, and outputs. For sensitive or high-impact operations, I add additional verification.

𝟔. 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: I monitor tool calls, model responses, latency, failures, token usage, and agent execution paths.

𝟕. 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: I test the complete system against realistic scenarios, edge cases, adversarial inputs, and expected failure modes.

▶️ I walk through how to build this kind of agent from scratch here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgconCK-l4g



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