Context Poisoning: Multi-Step Agents Contaminating Themselves
CombinationFormer638 · reddit · 2026-07-08
The author reflects that the real challenge in multi-step agent workflows isn't tool calling, but preventing residual information from previous steps from bleeding into the current one. In one test—summarizing a PDF, calling a weather API, and then summarizing another PDF—the final summary bizarrely incorporated London's cloud cover as a supply chain metaphor in a logistics answer. The tool calls themselves were correct; the issue stemmed from a dirty state. The author advocates for minimizing input at each step, cleaning up outputs, and reducing residue, noting that clean step boundaries remain an unsolved challenge.
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