Lesson 1099 of 2116
Agent Edge Case Handling: When the Happy Path Breaks
Agents work great on happy paths and break on edge cases. Designing for edge cases is what separates demo agents from production.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The premise
- 2edge cases
- 3production readiness
- 4graceful failure
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
The premise
Agent edge cases are inevitable; designing for them separates production-ready from demo-quality.
What AI does well here
- Catalog known edge cases (empty inputs, conflicting instructions, ambiguous requests)
- Design specific responses for each edge case category
- Surface unknown edge cases through production monitoring
- Test edge case handling with red-team methodology
What AI cannot do
- Anticipate every edge case
- Substitute happy-path testing for edge case design
- Eliminate the cost of edge case handling
Key terms in this lesson
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