Agentic Design Patterns

Agentic design patterns are simple blueprints for building systems that act on goals. They show how agents plan, use tools, check themselves, and work with people or other agents. Think of them like plumbing for agent behavior: they help move information and actions in predictable ways.

Author

Pratik Dhamecha
September 29, 2025

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Why This Matters

Agentic systems can solve tasks that need several steps, external tools, or hands-on judgment. Using patterns makes those systems easier to build, test, and change. They help teams avoid fragile hacks and repeat the same reliable structures across projects.

Common Patterns

Here are the patterns you’ll see most often, with one-line descriptions.

  • Planning (decompose + schedule). Break a goal into steps, then run those steps. Useful when tasks are complex.

  • Tool use (advisor → operator). Let the agent call external tools (search, APIs, databases) when it needs data or actions.

  • Reflect and critique. The agent reviews its output, corrects mistakes, and repeats if needed. This raises quality without always needing a human.

  • ReAct / reasoning + acting. Interleave thinking and doing: reason, act, then reason about the result. Good for interactive tasks.

  • LLM as router (dispatcher). Use a model to decide which tool, subagent, or workflow should handle a subtask.

  • Parallelization. Run independent subtasks at the same time to save time.

  • Human-in-the-loop (HITL). Pause or hand off to people for checks, approvals, or judgment calls. This keeps risk in check.

  • Multi-agent / orchestration. Coordinate specialized agents that each handle part of the job. This scales complex workflows.

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How to Pick a Pattern

Start with the question: how much autonomy do you want the agent to have?

  • If you want step-by-step control, use controlled flows and human approvals.

  • If the task needs lots of data or web calls, design tool use and routing.

  • If quality matters, add reflection and HITL.

  • If you need scale and specialization, use multi-agent orchestration.

Keep it simple. Combine patterns only when they clearly solve a problem.

Quick Implementation Checklist

  • Define the goal in plain language.

  • Split the goal into clear subtasks.

  • Pick one pattern per subtask, not ten.

  • Add observability: logs, metrics, and checkpoints.

  • Add a safe fallback to a human for unclear or risky steps.

  • Test with small, real examples before scaling.

Risks and Guardrails

Agentic systems are powerful but not mature everywhere. Many projects fail when teams expect magic instead of engineering. Watch for cost spikes, incorrect tool calls, and unclear ownership of decisions. Treat autonomy as something you enable slowly, not as a switch you flip.

Practical guardrails:

  • Limit what agents can do without approval.

  • Record every action for review.

  • Add time and cost limits to automated runs.

  • Use guardrails for sensitive data and high-risk tasks.

Final Note

Agentic design patterns give you repeatable ways to build systems that plan, act, and learn. Start small, stay honest about limits, and keep a human in reach when decisions matter. And that’s why it matters: patterns help you move from experiments to systems you can maintain and trust.