Agent
Why Coding Agents Work and Why They Break
The same model hallucinates in web chat but ships a 200-line feature in a coding agent. Not because the model changed — because the topology changed. Generation can be probabilistic. Verification must be deterministic.
Ratchet Pattern — How to Make an Agent Finish the Job
I asked an AI agent to write tests for 527 functions. It stopped at 40 and declared 'done.' The Ratchet Pattern forces completion by delegating the done/not-done decision to a mechanical verifier — so the agent keeps going until the machine says stop.
Feedback Topology Over Model IQ
The same model stalls at 40 or completes all 527. The difference is not the model — it is the feedback structure. LLM performance depends far more on how fast and deterministic the feedback loop is than on the model itself.