https://loopandretry.github.io/tags/design/ Recent content in Design on Loop & Retry https://loopandretry.github.io/images/og-default.png https://loopandretry.github.io/images/og-default.png Hugo en-us Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:00:00 -0400 https://loopandretry.github.io/posts/when-not-to-build-an-agent/ Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:00:00 -0400 https://loopandretry.github.io/posts/when-not-to-build-an-agent/ An agent is an LLM that controls its own control flow — and that autonomy has a price you pay on every run: quadratic token cost, serial latency, and a failure surface you can’t unit-test. Most tasks people reach for an agent on are a fixed pipeline wearing a costume. Here’s the decision checklist I use, the arithmetic on what the agent tax actually costs, and the same task built both ways so you can see the difference.