Course 2 - Module 5 - Lesson 2
Mini-project: sketch a safe business agent with a tiny job and a clear finish line
Seatbelts for Agents
Give the agent one business job
Your mini-project is a design for a small business agent, not a requirement to connect real accounts. Choose a job with a clear finish, such as preparing a draft reminder list for overdue equipment returns. Identify the person who owns the task and reviews the result.
Use fictional records containing an equipment identifier, expected return date, and return status. Define overdue precisely using a supplied reference date. If either date or status is missing, the record belongs in a questions list rather than being classified by guesswork.
Specify the working contract
Write the permitted sequence: read the approved sample, identify possible overdue items, check each one against the rule, and produce a draft list with supporting fields. The agent may read sample records and write a local draft. It may not contact borrowers or change records.
Set limits such as twenty records and five tool actions per run. Name the stop conditions: inaccessible source, conflicting dates, or no review owner. Show the proposed list to the owner with unresolved questions and the exact source used for each entry.
Define tests and a finish line
Prepare three records: one overdue, one returned, and one missing a due date. The expected output is one overdue entry, no reminder for the returned item, and one question. This makes your design checkable without trusting the agent's own assessment.
Finish with a one-page agent card containing purpose, input, tools, limits, approval, evidence, and recovery. Explain how to stop a run and delete its draft. Only consider broader access after the sample cases behave as expected and the owner accepts the process.
Tiny experiment
Sketch the equipment-return agent card and three fictional test records. Write the expected output for each record and identify the person who approves the draft.
Confidence check
What is the smallest successful result your agent could deliver without gaining permission to contact anyone?