agent-architecture-auditlisted

# Agent Architecture Audit A diagnostic workflow for agent systems that hide failures behind wrapper layers, stale memory, retry loops, or transport/rendering mutations. ## When to Activate **MANDATORY for:** - Releasing any agent or LLM-powered application to production - Shipping features with tool calling, memory, or multi-step workflows - Agent behavior degrades after adding wrapper layers - User reports "the agent is getting worse" or "tools are flaky" - Same model works in playground but breaks inside your wrapper - Debugging agent behavior for more than 15 minutes without finding root cause **Especially critical when:** - You've added new prompt layers, tool definitions, or memory systems - Different agents in your system behave inconsistently - The model was fine yesterday but is hallucinating today - You suspect hidden repair/retry loops silently mutating responses **Do not use for:** - General code debugging — use a runtime debugging workflow - Code review — use a language-specific code reviewer - Security scanning — use a security review workflow - Writing new features — use the appropriate implementation workflow ## The 12-Layer Stack Every agent system has these layers. Any of them can corrupt the answer: | # | Layer | What Goes Wrong | |---|-------|----------------| | 1 | System prompt | Conflicting instructions, instruction bloat | | 2 | Session history | Stale context injection from previous turns | | 3 | Long-term memory | Pollution across sessions, o