Test an Agent Workflow Before You Trust It

Test behavior, not just final prose

An agent can produce a polished final answer while calling the wrong tool, skipping a required check, or inventing a source. A useful test therefore checks the path as well as the output. Capture the task, tool calls, retrieved evidence, decisions, and final response.

Use four scenario families

Start with a normal request. Add an incomplete request that requires clarification, a hostile request that attempts to override the task, and a tool failure such as a timeout or empty result. For each, define the expected action: proceed, ask, refuse, retry within a limit, or hand off.

Practice: write five acceptance cases

For one agent, write five cases with input, available tools, expected tool calls, expected boundary behavior, and a review criterion. Run them whenever you change the prompt, tools, or model. Keep failed traces because they are the fastest route to a stronger design.

Common mistake

Avoid using production data to prove an early agent works. A small synthetic fixture set gives you repeatable tests without exposing private information or making results impossible to compare.