Prompt Engineering for Agentic Workflows
Chapter 1: Foundations of Agentic AI Systems
Defining Agentic Workflows
Core Components of AI Agents
The Function of Prompt Engineering in Agentic Systems
Contrasting Agent Prompts with Standard Prompts
Overview of Agent Architectures
Methods for Assessing Agent Performance
Hands-on: Analyzing a Simple Agent's Task Execution
Quiz for Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Advanced Prompting for Agent Control
Structuring Prompts for Sequential Operations
Refining Instructions for Complex Agent Actions
Assigning Roles and Personas to Agents
Utilizing Few-Shot Examples for Agent Guidance
Chain-of-Thought and Tree-of-Thought in Agent Prompts
Controlling Agent State via Prompt Design
Prompting for Self-Correction and Error Handling
Practice: Crafting Prompts for Coherent Agent Behavior
Quiz for Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Prompt Engineering for Tool Use
Principles of Tool-Augmented Language Models
Prompting Agents for Tool Selection and Operation
Formatting Tool Specifications for LLM Comprehension
Managing Tool Inputs and Outputs through Prompts
Prompts for Interacting with APIs
Addressing Errors During Tool Execution via Prompts
Designing Prompts for Novel Tool Integration
Hands-on: Guiding an Agent to Use a Web Search Tool
Quiz for Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Prompts for Agent Planning and Task Management
Introduction to AI Planning in Agent Systems
Prompting for Goal Specification and Refinement
Breaking Down Complex Problems using Prompts
Incorporating Constraints and Preferences in Agent Plans
Iterative Planning and Re-planning with Prompt Adjustments
Prompt Strategies for Hierarchical Task Decomposition
Evaluating Plan Viability and Quality
Practice: Prompting an Agent to Formulate a Detailed Plan
Quiz for Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Managing Agent Memory with Prompts
The Significance of Memory in Agent Operations
Prompt Strategies for Short-Term Memory and Context Windows
Information Condensation Techniques for Prompts
Prompting for Long-Term Information Retrieval
Structuring Prompts for Accessing Knowledge Stores
Managing Information Consistency and Beliefs
Maintaining Task Focus Across Extended Interactions
Hands-on: Prompting an Agent with Dynamic Information Streams
Quiz for Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Debugging and Optimizing Prompts in Agentic Systems
Common Issues in Agent Prompt Implementations
A Systematic Approach to Prompt Iteration and Testing
Effects of Prompt Chaining on Agent Outputs
Methods for Analyzing Agent Action Sequences
Comparing Prompt Variations for Agent Effectiveness
Logging and Monitoring for Prompt Improvement
Organizing and Versioning Prompts for Agents
Hands-on: Refining Prompts to Resolve an Agent Workflow Issue
Quiz for Chapter 6
Addressing Errors During Tool Execution via Prompts
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- ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models, Shunyu Yao, Jeffrey Zhao, Dian Yu, Nan Du, Izhak Shafran, Karthik Narasimhan, Yuan Cao, 2023 International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2210.03629 - This paper introduces a key framework for large language models to combine reasoning and acting when using tools, highlighting the architectural considerations for agents interacting with external environments, which implicitly includes handling various outcomes and potential failures.
- Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems, Martin Kleppmann, 2017 (O'Reilly Media) - While not directly about LLMs, this book offers fundamental principles for building resilient systems, covering topics such as fault tolerance, distributed system challenges, and various error handling patterns (e.g., retries, timeouts, graceful degradation) that are directly applicable to designing robust agentic workflows.
- Prompt engineering, OpenAI, 2024 (OpenAI) - The official documentation provides current strategies and best practices for crafting effective prompts for large language models, including methods for guiding their behavior in complex scenarios and managing unexpected outputs, which is relevant to instructing agents on error detection and recovery.
- Challenges and Applications of Large Language Model Agents, Andrii Kompanets, Gautam Pai, Remco Duits, Davide Leonetti, Bert Snijder, 2024 arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.17725 DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2403.17725 - This survey discusses the current challenges and limitations of large language model agents, including aspects related to their reliability and robustness in real-world scenarios, offering insights into the broader context of why effective error handling is crucial for these systems.