Step caps and traces

Learn in five minutes

• A step cap is the maximum number of tool rounds.
• Without a cap, a loop can repeat.
• A trace lists each proposal, validation, result, and stop reason.
• Lab 07 corrects a bad guess with a tool and then stops.
• The stop reason is part of the artifact.

If the same tool returns the same result twice, stop. Another round will not add a fact. Write that rule next to the cap.

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Visual

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Flow SVGFlow PNGFlow HTML

Read the agent loop lab

1. Run python3 labs/07-agent-loop.py.
2. Read the artifact's steps.
3. Find the stop.
4. Confirm the bad guess was replaced by the tool result.

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Quiz

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Ecosystem

Trace

The ordered record of what the loop did.

Sisters: Workflows, State machines, Function calling.

The same loop can sit behind chat or a voice turn. The channel does not remove the cap.

MCP is one way to plug tools into that loop. It is the next track.

Config

• Write the goal in one sentence.
• Name the input and the allowed output.
• Save the trace next to the result.

Troubleshooting

• The answer looks fluent and is wrong. Check whether a source passage actually contains the claim.
• The loop never stops. Set a step cap and stop when the tool result repeats.

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