http://programmer.ie/tags/agent-state/ Recent content in Agent State on Programmer.ie: Modern AI programming Hugo en-us Sat, 08 Aug 2026 16:56:00 +0100 http://programmer.ie/post/agents-from-first-principles-05/ Sat, 08 Aug 2026 16:56:00 +0100 http://programmer.ie/post/agents-from-first-principles-05/ <p>An AI agent that keeps calling the same tool, revisiting the same page, rewriting the same file, or repeatedly saying “I’ll try again” is not displaying persistence.</p> <p>It is displaying a control-flow bug.</p> <p>This is one of the most common failure modes in agent software because the basic loop is deceptively simple:</p> <div class="highlight"><pre tabindex="0" style="color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;"><code class="language-text" data-lang="text"><span style="display:flex;"><span>observe </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span> ↓ </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span>decide </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span> ↓ </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span>act </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span> ↓ </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span>observe </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span> ↓ </span></span><span style="display:flex;"><span>repeat </span></span></code></pre></div><p>The problem is hidden inside the final word.</p>