Graph workflows vs. agent loops: 2.6x less tokens on a local 9B model
treble-maker123 · reddit · 2026-08-21
The author compared a standard ReAct-style loop against a graph workflow for an email triage task using Qwen 3.5 9B on an M1 MacBook Pro.
- Accuracy: The difference was small and not statistically significant.
- Efficiency: The graph workflow was significantly more efficient. ReAct loops narrated heavily, generating 2.6x more output tokens and taking about 1.5x longer in wall-clock time.
The author is curious if these results hold at different scales and seeks insights from those running LangGraph in production.
More from coding & agent
- Agentic coding accessibility will reshape understanding of software complexity — pixlpa · 2026-08-24
- Devin Agent bypasses Slack block by finding emails in git logs — sandylikesfrogs · 2026-08-24
- Developer habits shift: Agents become collaborators from simple tools — latticecut · 2026-08-24
- Dev bottleneck shifts from writing to reading code: exe.dev co-founder — thursdai_pod · 2026-08-24
- The biggest AI mistake: trying to reinvent the wheel instead of using tools — Tired40s · 2026-08-24
- DeepPaperNote turns research papers into Obsidian notes — tom_doerr · 2026-08-24