autonomous-agent-patterns

🕹️ Autonomous Agent Patterns

Design patterns for building autonomous coding agents, inspired by Cline and OpenAI Codex.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Building autonomous AI agents
• Designing tool/function calling APIs
• Implementing permission and approval systems
• Creating browser automation for agents
• Designing human-in-the-loop workflows

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1. Core Agent Architecture

1.1 Agent Loop

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     AGENT LOOP                               │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐              │
│  │  Think   │───▶│  Decide  │───▶│   Act    │              │
│  │ (Reason) │    │ (Plan)   │    │ (Execute)│              │
│  └──────────┘    └──────────┘    └──────────┘              │
│       ▲                               │                     │
│       │         ┌──────────┐          │                     │
│       └─────────│ Observe  │◀─────────┘                     │
│                 │ (Result) │                                │
│                 └──────────┘                                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

class AgentLoop:
    def __init__(self, llm, tools, max_iterations=50):
        self.llm = llm
        self.tools = {t.name: t for t in tools}
        self.max_iterations = max_iterations
        self.history = []

    def run(self, task: str) -> str:
        self.history.append({"role": "user", "content": task})

        for i in range(self.max_iterations):
            # Think: Get LLM response with tool options
            response = self.llm.chat(
                messages=self.history,
                tools=self._format_tools(),
                tool_choice="auto"
            )

            # Decide: Check if agent wants to use a tool
            if response.tool_calls:
                for tool_call in response.tool_calls:
                    # Act: Execute the tool
                    result = self._execute_tool(tool_call)

                    # Observe: Add result to history
                    self.history.append({
                        "role": "tool",
                        "tool_call_id": tool_call.id,
                        "content": str(result)
                    })
            else:
                # No more tool calls = task complete
                return response.content

        return "Max iterations reached"

    def _execute_tool(self, tool_call) -> Any:
        tool = self.tools[tool_call.name]
        args = json.loads(tool_call.arguments)
        return tool.execute(**args)

1.2 Multi-Model Architecture

class MultiModelAgent:
    """
    Use different models for different purposes:
    - Fast model for planning
    - Powerful model for complex reasoning
    - Specialized model for code generation
    """

    def __init__(self):
        self.models = {
            "fast": "gpt-3.5-turbo",      # Quick decisions
            "smart": "gpt-4-turbo",        # Complex reasoning
            "code": "claude-3-sonnet",     # Code generation
        }

    def select_model(self, task_type: str) -> str:
        if task_type == "planning":
            return self.models["fast"]
        elif task_type == "analysis":
            return self.models["smart"]
        elif task_type == "code":
            return self.models["code"]
        return self.models["smart"]

---

2. Tool Design Patterns

2.1 Tool Schema

class Tool:
    """Base class for agent tools"""

    @property
    def schema(self) -> dict:
        """JSON Schema for the tool"""
        return {
            "name": self.name,
            "description": self.description,
            "parameters": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": self._get_parameters(),
                "required": self._get_required()
            }
        }

    def execute(self, **kwargs) -> ToolResult:
        """Execute the tool and return result"""
        raise NotImplementedError

class ReadFileTool(Tool):
    name = "read_file"
    description = "Read the contents of a file from the filesystem"

    def _get_parameters(self):
        return {
            "path": {
                "type": "string",
                "description": "Absolute path to the file"
            },
            "start_line": {
                "type": "integer",
                "description": "Line to start reading from (1-indexed)"
            },
            "end_line": {
                "type": "integer",
                "description": "Line to stop reading at (inclusive)"
            }
        }

    def _get_required(self):
        return ["path"]

    def execute(self, path: str, start_line: int = None, end_line: int = None) -> ToolResult:
        try:
            with open(path, 'r') as f:
                lines = f.readlines()

            if start_line and end_line:
                lines = lines[start_line-1:end_line]

            return ToolResult(
                success=True,
                output="".join(lines)
            )
        except FileNotFoundError:
            return ToolResult(
                success=False,
                error=f"File not found: {path}"
            )

2.2 Essential Agent Tools

CODING_AGENT_TOOLS = {
    # File operations
    "read_file": "Read file contents",
    "write_file": "Create or overwrite a file",
    "edit_file": "Make targeted edits to a file",
    "list_directory": "List files and folders",
    "search_files": "Search for files by pattern",

    # Code understanding
    "search_code": "Search for code patterns (grep)",
    "get_definition": "Find function/class definition",
    "get_references": "Find all references to a symbol",

    # Terminal
    "run_command": "Execute a shell command",
    "read_output": "Read command output",
    "send_input": "Send input to running command",

    # Browser (optional)
    "open_browser": "Open URL in browser",
    "click_element": "Click on page element",
    "type_text": "Type text into input",
    "screenshot": "Capture screenshot",

    # Context
    "ask_user": "Ask the user a question",
    "search_web": "Search the web for information"
}

2.3 Edit Tool Design

class EditFileTool(Tool):
    """
    Precise file editing with conflict detection.
    Uses search/replace pattern for reliable edits.
    """

    name = "edit_file"
    description = "Edit a file by replacing specific content"

    def execute(
        self,
        path: str,
        search: str,
        replace: str,
        expected_occurrences: int = 1
    ) -> ToolResult:
        """
        Args:
            path: File to edit
            search: Exact text to find (must match exactly, including whitespace)
            replace: Text to replace with
            expected_occurrences: How many times search should appear (validation)
        """
        with open(path, 'r') as f:
            content = f.read()

        # Validate
        actual_occurrences = content.count(search)
        if actual_occurrences != expected_occurrences:
            return ToolResult(
                success=False,
                error=f"Expected {expected_occurrences} occurrences, found {actual_occurrences}"
            )

        if actual_occurrences == 0:
            return ToolResult(
                success=False,
                error="Search text not found in file"
            )

        # Apply edit
        new_content = content.replace(search, replace)

        with open(path, 'w') as f:
            f.write(new_content)

        return ToolResult(
            success=True,
            output=f"Replaced {actual_occurrences} occurrence(s)"
        )

---

3. Permission & Safety Patterns

3.1 Permission Levels

class PermissionLevel(Enum):
    # Fully automatic - no user approval needed
    AUTO = "auto"

    # Ask once per session
    ASK_ONCE = "ask_once"

    # Ask every time
    ASK_EACH = "ask_each"

    # Never allow
    NEVER = "never"

PERMISSION_CONFIG = {
    # Low risk - can auto-approve
    "read_file": PermissionLevel.AUTO,
    "list_directory": PermissionLevel.AUTO,
    "search_code": PermissionLevel.AUTO,

    # Medium risk - ask once
    "write_file": PermissionLevel.ASK_ONCE,
    "edit_file": PermissionLevel.ASK_ONCE,

    # High risk - ask each time
    "run_command": PermissionLevel.ASK_EACH,
    "delete_file": PermissionLevel.ASK_EACH,

    # Dangerous - never auto-approve
    "sudo_command": PermissionLevel.NEVER,
    "format_disk": PermissionLevel.NEVER
}

3.2 Approval UI Pattern

class ApprovalManager:
    def __init__(self, ui, config):
        self.ui = ui
        self.config = config
        self.session_approvals = {}

    def request_approval(self, tool_name: str, args: dict) -> bool:
        level = self.config.get(tool_name, PermissionLevel.ASK_EACH)

        if level == PermissionLevel.AUTO:
            return True

        if level == PermissionLevel.NEVER:
            self.ui.show_error(f"Tool '{tool_name}' is not allowed")
            return False

        if level == PermissionLevel.ASK_ONCE:
            if tool_name in self.session_approvals:
                return self.session_approvals[tool_name]

        # Show approval dialog
        approved = self.ui.show_approval_dialog(
            tool=tool_name,
            args=args,
            risk_level=self._assess_risk(tool_name, args)
        )

        if level == PermissionLevel.ASK_ONCE:
            self.session_approvals[tool_name] = approved

        return approved

    def _assess_risk(self, tool_name: str, args: dict) -> str:
        """Analyze specific call for risk level"""
        if tool_name == "run_command":
            cmd = args.get("command", "")
            if any(danger in

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