AI agents leverage large language models (LLMs) to enhance software systems through contextual understanding, tool suggestion, and flow control. Their effectiveness is determined by the quality of the underlying software design, as poorly designed systems can lead to negative outcomes. The article outlines key capabilities of AI agents and explores their potential applications, particularly in customer support.

Effective evaluation of agent performance requires a combination of end-to-end evaluations and "N - 1" simulations to identify issues and improve functionality. While external tools can assist, it's critical to develop tailored evaluations based on specific use cases and to continuously monitor agent interactions for optimal results. Checkpoints within prompts can help ensure adherence to desired conversation patterns.

Agents require effective context management to perform tasks efficiently, which is achieved through context engineering strategies like writing, selecting, compressing, and isolating context. This article explores these strategies, highlighting their importance and how tools like LangGraph support them in managing context for long-running tasks and complex interactions.

The article introduces the concept of "12-factor agents," which emphasizes engineering principles for building reliable and scalable AI agents. It critiques existing frameworks for lacking true agentic qualities and shares insights from the author's experiences with various AI frameworks, highlighting the importance of modularity and control in effective agent development.