Building E-commerce Agent Systems: Focus on the Layers, Not Just the Model
aishashok14 · x · 2026-08-19
The article argues that the core of building an agentic system lies not in the agent itself, but in the surrounding layers constructed around it. The author outlines six critical layers:
- Contract: Defines what the agent should do.
- Harness: Provides the tools to help the agent work.
- Rubrics (Evals): Defines what "good" looks like, preventing "completed" from being mistaken for "good".
- Memory: Carries useful learning forward to avoid repetition.
- Boundaries: Protects rules that must remain true.
- State: Records the current status of work.
The author emphasizes that without a contract, output becomes inconsistent; without rubrics, one cannot distinguish the quality of completion; and without memory, subtle learnings are lost. Carefully designing these layers is key to an effective agent system.
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