Agent lifecycle

A managed workflow needs attention beyond its initial launch. Coryntas describes the lifecycle as design, prove, operate, and improve: define the work, test the complete path, monitor outcomes, and make controlled changes.

Design the workflow#

Agree on the purpose, business owner, sources, permitted tools, and outcome. Record the approval points and the conditions that should stop or redirect work. Identify which integration and security details need confirmation for this deployment.

Use Plan your first workflow as the starting brief. Keep the acceptance criteria close to the people who will judge the result.

Prove the complete path#

Evaluate representative work from the initial request through the final output or system state. Include normal cases, missing context, conflicting records, denied actions, and failures that occur after part of the work has already completed.

For each test, record the expected behavior and the evidence needed to accept it. A correct refusal or escalation matters as much as a successful action. Review the handoff process with the people who will receive exceptions.

Operate with an owner#

Agree on who monitors completed work, unresolved exceptions, and review queues. Track whether the workflow reaches an accepted business outcome and where people repeatedly need to intervene.

Monitor changing access and source quality as well as output quality. A workflow that worked during evaluation can encounter different records, permissions, or system behavior in production.

Improve through controlled changes#

Use observed problems to propose specific changes to context, tools, instructions, policy, or workflow scope. Evaluate the affected path again before release. Establish who approves the change and how the team will respond if it causes a regression.

Adding a new action or data source can alter the workflow's authority and risk. Treat it as a scope change that needs review, even if the visible request stays the same. See Approvals and oversight for the decisions to document.