Lesson 995 of 1596
Runaway Loop Detection for Long-Running Agents
Detect and break agents stuck in tool-call cycles before they burn the budget.
Creators · Agentic AI · ~7 min read
The premise
Agents loop on ambiguous goals — detection must be at the orchestrator, not just in the prompt.
What AI does well here
- Hash recent tool-call sequences and detect cycles.
- Force a planner re-evaluation on detected loops.
- Hard-stop after N repeats with the same args.
What AI cannot do
- Distinguish productive iteration from a loop without context.
- Prevent loops the orchestrator can't see (in-tool retries).
Key terms in this lesson
Practice this safely
Use a small project example from your own work. The useful move is to compare the AI's draft against your goal, sources, and constraints before you trust it.
- 1Ask AI to explain loop detection in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
- 2Give it one detail from "Runaway Loop Detection for Long-Running Agents" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
- 3Check cycle breaking against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.
End-of-lesson quiz
Check what stuck
10 questions · Score saves to your progress.
Tutor
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