01
The stack in one view
Fig. 01 · the unit of work moves up a level
A loop behaves
One agent gathers context, acts, checks the result, and goes again until a condition is met. It is the smallest repeatable unit.
A harness constrains
The sandbox, tools, memory, instructions, and gates around a loop. It decides what the loop can touch and what “done” must prove.
A factory routes
Many harnessed loops take work from a queue, pass through review and release gates, and turn production signals into new work.
02
A factory is not a bigger agent
It is an org chart made of loops. Some investigate, some implement, some test, and some judge. Deterministic code still owns much of the path between them. The model supplies judgment inside selected boxes; the control flow remains explicit.
03
The factory closes the loop
Leadership intent, product decisions, incidents, user reports, and monitoring feed the queue. Changes move through build and verification into deployment. Production then emits the next signals.
The scarce component in this loop is not code generation. It is credible verification. That fact governs every later lesson.