Beyond the Agent: The 9 Contracts Needed for Production AI Systems
blaizedsouza · x · 2026-08-04
The author argues that an AI agent can pass its tests yet still ship a silent regression in production. The model completing its task does not mean the production system succeeded.
To address this, the author proposes building nine contracts around the agent:
- Outcome
- Research
- Memory
- Routing
- Tools
- Approvals
- Recovery
- Evaluation
- Governance
Developers should start with five core artifacts: outcome contract, bounded tools, approval rule, checkpoint identity, and completion receipt. The key takeaway is to invest in missing contracts rather than simply switching to another model.
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