Agent Chain Configure

Purpose

This skill defines a production-ready workflow for configuring the builder→reviewer→tuner agent triad for solution plays, including role definitions, model assignment, handoff protocols, token budgets, and evaluation gates. It enforces full six-phase coverage, WAF-aligned quality gates, and reproducible delivery outcomes.

Inputs

Prerequisites

• Solution play repository initialized with fai-manifest.json.
• .github/agents/ directory exists.
• Agent roles and responsibilities are agreed upon.
• Token budget is allocated and approved.

Full Phases Coverage

Phase 1: Discover

• Identify the solution play and its complexity tier.
• Determine token budget allocation per role (60/25/15 split).
• Review evaluation gate requirements from stakeholders.
• Confirm model availability (gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini deployments).

Phase 2: Design

• Define the three agent files:

# .github/agents/builder.agent.md
---
description: "Implements the solution — code, infra, config, tests"
model: ["gpt-4o", "gpt-4o-mini"]
tools: ["codebase", "terminal", "github"]
waf: ["reliability", "security", "performance-efficiency"]
---

# .github/agents/reviewer.agent.md
---
description: "Audits builder output for security, WAF compliance, and quality"
model: ["gpt-4o-mini", "gpt-4o"]
tools: ["codebase"]
waf: ["security", "operational-excellence", "responsible-ai"]
---

# .github/agents/tuner.agent.md
---
description: "Validates production readiness — config, thresholds, guardrails"
model: ["gpt-4o-mini", "gpt-4o"]
tools: ["codebase"]
waf: ["cost-optimization", "responsible-ai", "reliability"]
---

• Design handoff protocol with structured JSON payload:

{
  "handoff": {
    "from": "builder",
    "to": "reviewer",
    "play": "01-enterprise-rag",
    "files_changed": ["src/rag.py", "infra/main.bicep"],
    "assumptions": ["Using text-embedding-3-small"],
    "token_budget_remaining": 25000
  }
}

Phase 3: Implement

• Create the three .agent.md files in .github/agents/.
• Wire agents in fai-manifest.json:

{
  "primitives": {
    "agents": [
      "./.github/agents/builder.agent.md",
      "./.github/agents/reviewer.agent.md",
      "./.github/agents/tuner.agent.md"
    ]
  }
}

• Configure token budget tracking:

{
  "toolkit": {
    "tunekit": {
      "token_budget": {
        "total": 100000,
        "builder": 60000,
        "reviewer": 25000,
        "tuner": 15000
      }
    }
  }
}

• Set up pre-filled handoff prompt templates for each transition.

Phase 4: Validate

• Verify each agent file has required frontmatter (description, model, tools, waf).
• Confirm agent names in @-mentions match the filename stem.
• Test handoff protocol by running a sample chain and verifying context passes.
• Validate evaluation gates trigger loop-back when thresholds fail.

Phase 5: Deploy

• Commit agent files and manifest to the play branch.
• Verify Copilot discovers all three agents via @builder, @reviewer, @tuner.
• Run one full chain cycle (build → review → tune) on dev environment.
• Confirm token budgets are tracked and surplus rolls forward correctly.

Phase 6: Operate

• Monitor chain completion rates — escalate if 3+ loops occur.
• Track token usage per role to right-size budgets over time.
• Review handoff quality quarterly — are structured payloads complete?
• Feed chain failure patterns into agent prompt improvements.

WAF-Aligned Quality Gates

Reliability

• Retry, timeout, and fallback behavior are validated.
• Dependency health checks and alerting are active.
• Degraded operation paths are tested and documented.

Security

• Secrets are externalized via Key Vault or Managed Identity.
• Least-privilege RBAC is enforced on all resources.
• Audit trails capture all critical operations.

Cost Optimization

• Resource sizing is evidence-based and right-sized.
• Expensive operations are measured and optimized.
• Budget alerts are configured per resource group.

Operational Excellence

• CI/CD pipelines validate before every deployment.
• Runbooks and rollback procedures are current and tested.
• Metrics and traces support rapid root-cause diagnosis.

Performance Efficiency

• SLO targets are explicit, monitored, and alerted.
• Hot paths are benchmarked under realistic load.
• Operational overhead is minimized.

Responsible AI

• Content safety filters are applied where AI is used.
• Model outputs are transparent and explainable to users.
• Human escalation exists for high-impact or ambiguous decisions.

Deliverables

Completion Checklist

• [ ] Phase 1 discovery documented with scope and success criteria.
• [ ] Phase 2 design approved with tradeoff rationale.
• [ ] Phase 3 implementation reviewed and merged.
• [ ] Phase 4 validation passed with evidence collected.
• [ ] Phase 5 staged rollout completed through all environments.
• [ ] Phase 6 operate handoff accepted by operations team.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: Deployment fails in staging but works in dev

• Compare environment configuration (feature flags, network rules, RBAC).
• Verify service principal permissions match between environments.
• Check for region-specific resource availability differences.

Symptom: Quality metrics degrade after deployment

• Compare baseline metrics with post-deployment measurements.
• Check for configuration drift between environments.
• Roll back and isolate the change that caused degradation.

Symptom: Monitoring gaps or missing telemetry

• Verify instrumentation is deployed to all service instances.
• Check sampling rates — increase temporarily for debugging.
• Confirm diagnostic settings route to the correct Log Analytics workspace.

Definition of Done

The skill is complete when all six phases have objective evidence, quality gates pass, and another engineer can reproduce outcomes without tribal knowledge.

Metadata

• Category: Infrastructure
• WAF Pillars: Reliability, Security, Operational Excellence
• Maintainer: FAI Skill System
• Review cadence: Quarterly and after major platform changes