Week 2 Mini Project - Agent Reliability Lab

Pre-reading: 02 Agentic Workflows

This mini project gives Week 2 a stateful workflow you can inspect and extend. It models schema validation, approval gates, retries, escalation, and trace logging using deterministic Python so you can focus on reliability behavior before adding an LLM.

What You Will Build

Capability	Output
Tool schema validation	Safe tool invocation checks
Approval gate	High-risk action control
Retry policy	Recoverable failure handling
Escalation path	Non-retryable outcome
Trace log	Step-by-step execution history

How to Run

cd docs/03-mini-projects/code/week02-agent-reliability

# High-risk action with approval gate
python3 cli.py cancel_subscription --user-id user-42 --subscription-id sub-101

# Simulate retry path
python3 cli.py cancel_subscription --user-id user-42 --subscription-id sub-101 --fail-once

# Run tests
python3 -m pytest tests/ -v

Portfolio Structure

code/week02-agent-reliability/
├── tools.py
├── agent.py
├── cli.py
└── tests/test_agent.py

What to Modify Across the Week

Day	Suggested change
Day 8	Add or remove one tool from the registry.
Day 9	Add one state field and trace how it changes.
Day 10	Draw the workflow as graph nodes and edges.
Day 11	Split one step into supervisor and worker roles.
Day 12	Tighten approval rules for risky actions.
Day 13	Force more failures and compare retry vs escalation.
Day 14	Write the architecture brief from your final trace.

Starter Assets

Asset	Purpose
week02-agent-reliability/cli.py	CLI entry point for tool workflows
week02-agent-reliability/tools.py	Tool schemas and stub implementations
week02-agent-reliability/agent.py	Validation, approval, retry, and escalation workflow
week02-agent-reliability/tests/test_agent.py	Unit tests for reliability controls
week02_agent_reliability_output.json	Sample trace showing approval, retry, and success

Matching Lab Outputs

Output	Why keep it
Trace log	Lets you explain state transitions in interviews
Tool schema notes	Documents control boundaries
Approval and escalation paths	Shows safety design
Failure matrix	Feeds Week 2 review and Week 4 stories

Portfolio Checklist

Item	Done?
Save one approved high-risk flow trace.	[ ]
Save one denied approval trace and expected behavior note.	[ ]
Save one retry-to-success trace with attempt counts.	[ ]
Write one STAR-ready bullet on reliability guardrails.	[ ]