Agent Chain Failure Containment (QA)

Agent Chain Failure Containment (QA)

1. 01

   Map every handoff point in the client workflow before the chain goes live

   List each agent-to-agent transition (extraction to drafting, drafting to compliance, compliance to publishing) and name the single output field that must validate before the next agent is allowed to run.

2. 02

   Define a hard stop condition for each agent rather than a soft retry loop

   Cap retries at two attempts, then route the record to a human queue. Unbounded retries on a failing extraction step burn tokens and delay the client deliverable without improving the result.

3. 03

   Write the fallback path for the three most expensive failure modes

   For a marketing retainer, that usually means a stalled data pull, a brand-guideline violation in generated copy, and a publishing call that returns an auth error. Each needs a defined degraded output the agency can still ship.

4. 04

   Instrument each agent with a timestamped log the client can be shown

   Record input hash, model used, latency, and pass or fail status per step. When a client asks why a campaign asset is late, the log answers the question in one screen instead of a status meeting.

5. 05

   Run a deliberate failure test before the first client-facing deployment

   Kill the middle agent in the chain and confirm the workflow halts cleanly, notifies the account owner, and leaves no partial output in the client's system of record.

6. 06

   Set a human review gate on any step that writes to client CRM or publishes externally

   Autonomy levels should be classified per workflow, and anything touching client-facing communications or CRM data gets a named approver before execution.

7. 07

   Review failure logs weekly and retire any agent whose error rate exceeds the agreed threshold

   A 5% failure rate on a 200-record batch is 10 broken records per run. Track it per agent, not per workflow, so the weak link is visible.