Agent Workflow Builder The Agent Workflow Builder skill guides you through designing and implementing multi-agent AI systems that can plan, reason, use tools, and collaborate to accomplish complex tasks. Modern AI applications increasingly rely on agentic architectures where LLMs act as reasoning engines that orchestrate actions rather than just generate text. This skill covers agent design patterns, tool integration, state management, error handling, and human-in-the-loop workflows. It helps you build robust agent systems that can handle real-world complexity while maintaining safety and controllability. Whether you are building autonomous assistants, workflow automation, or complex reasoning systems, this skill ensures your agent architecture is well-designed and production-ready. Core Workflows Workflow 1: Design Agent Architecture Define the agent's scope: What tasks should it handle autonomously? What requires human approval? What is explicitly out of scope? Choose architecture pattern: Pattern Description Use When Single Agent One LLM with tools Simple tasks, clear scope Router Agent Classifies and delegates Multiple distinct domains Sequential Chain Agents in order Pipeline processing Hierarchical Manager + worker agents Complex, decomposable tasks Collaborative Peer agents discussing Requires diverse expertise Design tool set: What capabilities does the agent need? How are tools defined and documented? What are the safety boundaries? Plan state management: Conversation history Task state and progress External system state Document architecture decisions Workflow 2: Implement Agent Loop Build core agent loop: class Agent : def init ( self , llm , tools , system_prompt ) : self . llm = llm self . tools = { t . name : t for t in tools } self . system_prompt = system_prompt async def run ( self , user_input , max_steps = 10 ) : messages = [ { "role" : "system" , "content" : self . system_prompt } , { "role" : "user" , "content" : user_input } ] for step in range ( max_steps ) : response = await self . llm . chat ( messages , tools = self . tools ) if response . tool_calls :
Execute tools
for call in response . tool_calls : result = await self . execute_tool ( call ) messages . append ( { "role" : "tool" , "content" : result } ) else :
Final response
- return
- response
- .
- content
- raise
- MaxStepsExceeded
- (
- )
- async
- def
- execute_tool
- (
- self
- ,
- call
- )
- :
- tool
- =
- self
- .
- tools
- [
- call
- .
- name
- ]
- return
- await
- tool
- .
- execute
- (
- call
- .
- arguments
- )
- Implement
- tools with clear interfaces
- Add
- error handling and retries
- Include
- logging and observability
- Test
- with diverse scenarios
- Workflow 3: Build Multi-Agent System
- Define
- agent roles:
- agents
- =
- {
- "planner"
- :
- Agent
- (
- llm
- =
- gpt4
- ,
- tools
- =
- [
- search
- ,
- create_task
- ]
- ,
- system_prompt
- =
- "You decompose complex tasks into steps..."
- )
- ,
- "researcher"
- :
- Agent
- (
- llm
- =
- claude
- ,
- tools
- =
- [
- web_search
- ,
- read_document
- ]
- ,
- system_prompt
- =
- "You gather and synthesize information..."
- )
- ,
- "executor"
- :
- Agent
- (
- llm
- =
- gpt4
- ,
- tools
- =
- [
- code_interpreter
- ,
- file_system
- ]
- ,
- system_prompt
- =
- "You execute tasks and produce outputs..."
- )
- ,
- "reviewer"
- :
- Agent
- (
- llm
- =
- claude
- ,
- tools
- =
- [
- validate
- ,
- provide_feedback
- ]
- ,
- system_prompt
- =
- "You review work for quality and correctness..."
- )
- }
- Implement
- orchestration:
- How do agents communicate?
- Who decides what runs when?
- How is work passed between agents?
- Manage
- shared state:
- Task board or work queue
- Shared memory or context
- Artifact storage
- Handle
- failures gracefully
- Add
- human checkpoints where needed
- Quick Reference
- Action
- Command/Trigger
- Design agent
- "Design an agent for [task]"
- Add tools
- "What tools for [agent type]"
- Build multi-agent
- "Build multi-agent system for [goal]"
- Handle errors
- "Agent error handling patterns"
- Add human-in-loop
- "Add human approval to agent workflow"
- Debug agent
- "Debug agent workflow"
- Best Practices
- Start Simple
-
- Single agent with tools before multi-agent
- Prove value with minimal complexity
- Add agents only when necessary
- Each agent should have clear, distinct responsibility
- Design Tools Carefully
-
- Tools are the agent's hands
- Clear, descriptive names and documentation
- Well-defined input/output schemas
- Proper error handling and messages
- Idempotent operations where possible
- Limit Agent Autonomy
-
- Constrain the blast radius
- Define what agents cannot do
- Require approval for high-impact actions
- Implement spending/rate limits
- Log all actions for audit
- Manage State Explicitly
-
- Don't rely on LLM memory alone
- Persist conversation and task state
- Summarize long contexts to fit windows
- Track what has been tried/completed
- Fail Gracefully
-
- Agents will encounter errors
- Clear error messages for the agent to reason about
- Retry logic with backoff
- Fallback strategies
- Human escalation paths
- Observe Everything
- Debugging agents is hard Log all LLM calls and tool invocations Track reasoning chains and decisions Measure success rates by task type Advanced Techniques ReAct Pattern (Reasoning + Acting) Structure agent thinking explicitly: REACT_PROMPT = """ You are an agent that solves tasks step by step. For each step: 1. Thought: Analyze the current situation and decide what to do 2. Action: Choose a tool and provide arguments 3. Observation: Review the tool result Continue until you can provide a final answer. Available tools: {tool_descriptions} Current task: {task} Begin: """ Planning Agent with Task Decomposition Break complex tasks into manageable steps: class PlanningAgent : async def solve ( self , task ) :
Step 1: Create plan
plan
await self . create_plan ( task )
Step 2: Execute each step
results
[ ] for step in plan . steps : result = await self . execute_step ( step , context = results ) results . append ( result )
Replan if needed
if result . status == "blocked" : plan = await self . replan ( task , results )
Step 3: Synthesize final output
return await self . synthesize ( task , results ) Reflection and Self-Correction Let agents review and improve their work: async def solve_with_reflection ( self , task , max_attempts = 3 ) : for attempt in range ( max_attempts ) :
Generate solution
solution
await self . generate_solution ( task )
Self-critique
critique
await self . critique_solution ( task , solution ) if critique . is_acceptable : return solution
Improve based on critique
task
f" { task } \n\nPrevious attempt issues: { critique . issues } " return solution
Return best effort
Human-in-the-Loop Checkpoints Integrate human approval into workflows: class HumanApprovalTool : async def execute ( self , action_description , risk_level ) : if risk_level == "low" : return { "approved" : True , "auto" : True }
Send to approval queue
approval_request
await self . create_request ( action_description )
Wait for human response (with timeout)
response
await self . wait_for_approval ( approval_request . id , timeout_minutes = 30 ) return { "approved" : response . approved , "feedback" : response . feedback , "auto" : False } Memory Management Handle long conversations and context: class AgentMemory : def init ( self , max_tokens = 8000 ) : self . max_tokens = max_tokens self . messages = [ ] self . summaries = [ ] def add ( self , message ) : self . messages . append ( message ) if self . token_count ( )
self . max_tokens : self . compress ( ) def compress ( self ) :
Summarize older messages
old_messages
self . messages [ : - 5 ]
Keep recent
summary
summarize ( old_messages ) self . summaries . append ( summary ) self . messages = self . messages [ - 5 : ] def get_context ( self ) : return { "summaries" : self . summaries , "recent_messages" : self . messages } Common Pitfalls to Avoid Building multi-agent systems when a single agent suffices Giving agents too much autonomy without safety bounds Not handling tool failures and edge cases Forgetting that LLMs can hallucinate tool calls Infinite loops when agents get stuck Not logging enough to debug agent behavior Assuming agents will follow instructions perfectly Ignoring cost (token usage) in agent loops