Best practices for classifying tool side effects in Agentic AI systems
blaizedsouza · x · 2026-08-23
Developer AiCamila shared a methodology for managing AI tool safety in production by classifying side effects.
Side Effect Cheatsheet:
- Mark tools as read, write, or irreversible.
- Allow reads more freely.
- Bound writes with retries and keys.
- Gate irreversible tools with extra checks.
- Show the class in traces.
- Block class upgrades without review.
Core principle: Policy should follow the damage a tool can do. Pro tip: If you cannot name the side effect, do not enable the tool.
Related event: Developers Share Safety Rules for Risky AI Agent Tool Calls(3 posts)→
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