Testing and iterating
An agent is tuned by iteration: change one thing, run the same task, compare. Endue keeps prompt revisions so the “get back” step is always available.
When to use it
Section titled “When to use it”Whenever an agent is nearly right. The failure mode this page exists to prevent is the common one: three changes at once, the agent gets better in one way and worse in another, and nothing can be attributed to anything.
A loop that works
Section titled “A loop that works”- Keep a task you re-run. Two or three real requests you have asked before, whose good answer you can recognize immediately. This is your test set. Without one, “better” is a feeling.
- Change one thing. The prompt, or the model, or a binding — not all three.
- Run the same task in a new conversation. A new conversation matters: an existing thread carries history that changes the answer independently of your edit.
- Compare against what you saw before. Look at the tool calls, not only the final text — that is where a prompt change usually shows up first.
- Keep it or roll back. If it is worse, restore the previous prompt revision and try a different change.
What to change, in order
Section titled “What to change, in order”Work down this list. The earlier items move results more, per unit of effort.
| Try | When the symptom is |
|---|---|
| Sharpen “what a good result looks like” in the prompt | The answer is right but not usable — wrong format, wrong depth, buries the point |
| Add a hard rule | It repeats a specific mistake |
| Bind a connector or skill | It guesses at something it should look up |
| Turn off a built-in tool group | It reaches for a capability that is noise for this agent |
| Raise reasoning effort | It skips steps in long tasks |
| Change the model | Everything above is right and it still cannot follow the task |
| Split into two agents | The prompt has grown to cover two unrelated jobs |
Reading a run to diagnose it
Section titled “Reading a run to diagnose it”Most “the agent is bad” problems are visible in the run itself.
- It called no tools. It thinks it should answer from memory. Usually a prompt problem, sometimes a missing binding.
- It called the right tool with bad arguments. It is missing context — say it in the prompt, or store it in memory.
- It called tools in a loop without converging. The task is underspecified, or the effort setting is too low for its length.
- It asked you something it should know. That fact belongs in the prompt or in memory.
Limits
Section titled “Limits”- There is no built-in evaluation harness or automated scoring. Comparison is by hand, against tasks you choose.
- There is no draft mode: an agent has one live configuration, and changes take effect on its next run. To try something risky without disturbing an agent you rely on, build a copy and experiment on that.
- Revision history covers the system prompt. Other settings — model, bindings, tool groups — are not versioned, so note what you changed.
Related
Section titled “Related”System prompt and revisionsThe lever you will pull most, and how to undo it.
RunsReading what the agent actually did, step by step.
Steering a runCorrecting a run in flight — and what that tells you.