agent loop

Definition of agent loop

1. : the repeating cycle at the heart of an agent: the model decides on an action, a tool carries it out, the result or evaluation is fed back, and the model decides again until the task is done or a stopping condition is reached

   • Each turn of the agent loop costs tokens, so long tasks add up.
   • The bug made the agent loop forever trying the same command.

2. : especially runaway agent loop: a failure mode in which an agent keeps reasoning, retrying, calling tools, or delegating work without measurable progress or a valid stopping condition, consuming tokens, time, and sometimes money

   • The coding agent entered a runaway agent loop and reran the same failing test until its token budget was exhausted.
   • A step limit and repeated-action detector stopped the reasoning loop before it could continue overnight.