CONTROL STRUCTURES AND DECISION ROUTING

CHAPTER SUMMARY Conditional branching splits the path of an agent depending on a condition. Directed graphs of nodes and edges give a clear picture of agent logic, support testing, and underlie many orchestration frameworks. Guarded repetition combines a maximum attempt count, backoff waits, and an escalation path, and applies only to steps that are safe to repeat. Deterministic control is predictable and best for safety-critical choices, while model-driven control is flexible and best for open-ended judgment, and good harnesses mix the two with guardrails. KEY TERMS REVIEW Conditional: an if-this-then-that rule. Branching: the path splitting depending on a condition. Directed graph: nodes connected by one-way edges. Node: a unit of work in the graph. Edge: an arrow showing what may run next. Retry: running a failed step again. Exponential backoff: waits that grow, such as 1, 2, 4 seconds. Deterministic control: fixed code decides. Model-driven control: the model decides. Guardrail: an outside rule that bounds a choice.