Section guide
Control Loops
Planning, reflection, evaluator-optimizer, and self-healing control patterns.
Use when the agent needs structured reasoning, correction, or iterative execution.
Leave knowing when planning, reflection, optimization, or healing earns its cost.
A loop policy with budget, evaluator, failure states, recovery path, and stop rule.
Reading order
6 chapters- 01 Planning and Execution Pattern · Intermediate 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Architect
Planning separates deciding what to do from doing it. The planner creates steps; the executor runs them, reports progress, and handles errors.
- 02 ReAct Pattern · Intermediate 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Architect
ReAct alternates reasoning and acting. The agent reasons about current state, takes an action, observes the result, and repeats.
- 03 Reflection Pattern · Intermediate 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Architect
Reflection asks an agent or evaluator to inspect prior output and identify concrete improvements.
- 04 Evaluator-Optimizer Pattern · Intermediate 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Architect
Evaluator-Optimizer pairs a generator with an evaluator. The generator proposes; the evaluator scores; the optimizer revises or stops.
- 05 Self-Improvement Pattern · Intermediate 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Architect
Self-improvement uses feedback from prior runs to improve future runs through reviewed changes to prompts, tools, retrieval, policies, tests, or skills.
- 06 Self-Healing Workflows Pattern · Intermediate 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Architect
Self-healing workflows detect failed steps and recover through retry, fallback, re-planning, or escalation.