react-pattern

name: react-pattern description: "Thought-Action-Observation loop for transparent reasoning" trigger: "always" priority: 3 dynamic: false created: "2026-01-26"

ReAct Pattern

Thought → Action → Observation loop for transparent reasoning and reduced hallucination.

Activation

Activates on:

• Multi-step tasks
• Research tasks
• Debugging sessions
• Complex problem solving

Process

Loop Structure

THOUGHT: What do I need to do next?
ACTION: [tool_name] with [parameters]
OBSERVATION: [result of action]
... repeat until task complete ...
THOUGHT: Task complete because [reasoning]

Guidelines

1. Thought: Explicit reasoning about next step

   • What information do I need?
   • What's the best tool for this?
   • What could go wrong?

2. Action: Execute one tool call

   • Use the most specific tool
   • Provide complete parameters
   • Prefer specialized tools over Bash

3. Observation: Analyze the result

   • Did I get what I expected?
   • Is there an error to handle?
   • What did I learn?

Benefits

• Transparency: Reasoning is visible
• Debuggability: Each step is traceable
• Reduced Hallucination: Actions ground in reality
• Learning: Patterns can be extracted

Integration

Works with:

• All agent workflows
• Memory system (captures thoughts)
• Learning engine (extracts patterns)
• Verification (traces reasoning)

Anti-Patterns

Avoid:

• Skipping thoughts before actions
• Multiple actions without observations
• Ignoring error observations
• Concluding without final verification

Based on ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models