Chapter
Loops of Agentic Engineering
The system you build around the model isn't a line — it's three nested loops (the value-factory model). A tight coding loop (red → green → refactor) sits inside a feature loop (specify → refine → verify), inside an impact loop (opportunities → hypothesis → impact). Each wider loop is slower, higher-stakes, and longer to close:
Each loop is built by a stage of the ladder — three stages, two tiers each:
| Stage | Tiers | Loop it closes |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | T1 Prompt · T2 Plan | The request, and the feature loop's specify |
| Trust | T3 Verify · T4 Enforce | The coding loop, and the feature loop's verify |
| Scale | T5 Orchestrate · T6 Supervise | Reaches the impact loop |
- Coding loop (red → green → refactor) — closed by Tier 3's tests; Tier 4 hardens that check so it runs every time.
- Feature loop (specify → refine → verify) — runs from the spec you shape in Tier 2 to that same Tier 3 check, which is why Tier 3 belongs to both.
- Impact loop (opportunities → hypothesis → impact) — Tiers 5–6 scale out to it, once one agent or one machine isn't enough.
Six tiers, three loops: climbing the ladder is how you build the loops up.