agent-patterns

name: agent-patterns description: "Action-oriented checklists for multi-agent pipeline design: Reflexion, critic isolation, Constitutional AI rubrics, Plan-and-Execute decomposition, Context Engineering. Load when designing or reviewing executor/critic/orchestrator roles, pipeline iteration rules, or critique rubrics."

SKILL: Agent Patterns

Load this skill when the task concerns executor/critic/orchestrator design, pipeline iteration rules, BLOCKER/WARNING/SUGGESTION rubric calibration, or any question about Reflexion, LLM-as-Judge, Constitutional AI, or Context Engineering.

When to Load This Skill

Designing or modifying an executor or critic agent prompt
Reviewing orchestrator decomposition or routing rules
Calibrating a critique rubric (BLOCKER / WARNING / SUGGESTION thresholds)
Any question about critic isolation, context contracts, or iteration limits
Implementing or debugging the Reflexion loop (## Previous Attempts)

Patterns Quick Reference (A1.2)

Pattern	When to Apply
ReAct	All executors: Reason → Act → Observe before answering
Plan-and-Execute	Orchestrator decomposing a multi-step task
Reflexion	Executor reading past failures on iteration 2+
Self-Refine	Format for every critic finding (location + root cause + fix)
LLM-as-Judge	Justification for critic agent isolation design
CRITIC	Critic is allowed only read-only tools — no web calls, no writes
AutoGen	Termination rule: `max_iterations: 5` → `NEEDS_HUMAN`
Self-Consistency	High-stakes verdict → run critic twice; escalate on disagreement
Constitutional AI	BLOCKER/WARNING/SUGGESTION severity definitions

Reflexion (Shinn et al., 2023 — A1.2)

Executor prompt checklist (iteration 2+):

Instruction to read ## Previous Attempts in TASK_CONTEXT.md before touching files
Instruction to explicitly acknowledge each BLOCKER/WARNING before acting
TASK_CONTEXT.md path passed as argument — NOT the content inlined into the prompt

Orchestrator checklist:

Append critic findings verbatim to ## Previous Attempts (no paraphrase — A1.6)
Pass file path, not inline findings
Counter: if iteration == 5 and no APPROVE → escalate NEEDS_HUMAN

Red flags:

Executor repeats the same mistake on iter 2 → ## Previous Attempts missing or skipped
Orchestrator summarises critic findings for the executor → violates no-paraphrase rule
TASK_CONTEXT.md is gitignored (session file) but orchestrator tries to commit it → see AGENTS.md

Critic Isolation / LLM-as-Judge (Zheng et al., 2023 — A1.2; A1.6)

Critic must receive ONLY:

Original user task text — verbatim, not paraphrased
Acceptance criteria
Executor's final output or precise summary of changed files

Critic must NOT receive:

Executor's reasoning or chain-of-thought
Conversation history or orchestrator commentary
Previous iteration context
Orchestrator's interpretation or summary of the task

Why: executor reasoning causes anchoring bias → critic evaluates the reasoning path, not the result.

Red flag: critic returns APPROVE on a clearly incomplete result → likely received executor reasoning, not just output.

Constitutional AI / Rubric Design (Anthropic, 2022 — A1.2, A1.4)

Severity definitions:

Severity	Meaning	Pipeline action
BLOCKER	Must be fixed before APPROVE. Spec contradiction, broken logic, security violation, missing required section.	`REQUEST_CHANGES`
WARNING	Must be fixed before APPROVE. Likely confusion for adopters, weak rules, missing example.	`REQUEST_CHANGES`
SUGGESTION	Optional. Style, clarity, minor improvement.	Does not block APPROVE

Rubric calibration checklist:

Is the rule testable by a critic with read-only tools?
Is the BLOCKER threshold proportional to the cost of the mistake?
Does the rubric have at least one golden test per BLOCKER category?
After changing a rubric: run golden tests before merging (A1.5, eval-before-merge)

ACKNOWLEDGED pattern (SUGGESTION-only):

ACKNOWLEDGED: SUGGESTION | <category> | <file/section> | <issue> | Deferred: <reason>

Critic must honour this on next review — do not re-raise as WARNING/BLOCKER.

Plan-and-Execute Decomposition (Wang et al., 2023 — A1.2)

Checklist:

Max 6 subtasks per task
Each subtask: deliverable, verification method, executor + critic assigned
Subtasks ordered by dependency (dependent subtask waits for APPROVE on prerequisite)
Fast-track applied where eligible (analysis/audit, docs-only, agent-prompt-change)

Anti-patterns:

Single subtask "do everything" → executor scope creep, critic unfocused verdict
Subtasks not ordered → executor B edits file that executor A hasn't finished yet
No verification method → orchestrator can't determine APPROVE criteria

Context Engineering (A1.6 derived principle)

Rule: no more context than needed.

Context type	Include	Omit
`AGENTS.md`	Every orchestrator run	—
`TASK_CONTEXT.md`	Executor on iter 2+	Iter 1
`SKILL.md`	Task matches skill trigger	All other tasks
Full file contents	Only if editing that file	Browsing
Conversation history	—	Always — especially never to critic

Violation signals:

Prompt >~3000 tokens before the actual task → trim
Executor pastes full file "for context" → scope creep
Critic receives executor chain-of-thought → isolation violation

Self-Refine Finding Format (Madaan et al., 2023 — A1.2)

Every critic finding must have all three:

Location — file path or section name
Root cause — why this is a problem
Actionable fix — exactly what to change

❌ Bad: WARNING: unclear prose in §3.2 ✅ Good: WARNING §3.2 "Iteration rules": "iterate as needed" has no termination condition → specify max_iterations: 5 per AutoGen pattern