Lesson 1407 of 2116
Runaway Loop Detection for Long-Running Agents
Detect and break agents stuck in tool-call cycles before they burn the budget.
Lesson map
What this lesson covers
Learning path
The main moves in order
- 1The premise
- 2loop detection
- 3cycle breaking
- 4agent safety
Concept cluster
Terms to connect while reading
Section 1
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
End-of-lesson quiz
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