Planning Loops and State Graphs

Fact-check status

Reviewed claim by claim on 2026-09-02 against the primary or official sources identified inline as S1 and S2. Recommendations are design guidance unless a cited standard makes them normative.

Key jargon

Term	Plain-language meaning
Plan	A proposed sequence or dependency structure for reaching a goal. S1
State graph	Nodes and transitions representing allowed workflow states. S1
Transition	A validated move from one state to another. S1
Stopping condition	A rule that ends or escalates a loop. S1

Key concepts

A plan is a hypothesis that must adapt to observations; it is not proof that steps will succeed. S1
State graphs make legal transitions, retries, approvals, and terminal states explicit. S1

Concept map

flowchart LR
    A["Create bounded plan"] --> B["Execute current node"]
    B --> C["Observe and update state"]
    C --> D["Stop revise or escalate"]

Diagram semantics verified against S1 and S2 on 2026-09-02.

A loop repeats “observe → decide → act → evaluate.” A graph makes allowed states and transitions explicit. The loop is behavior; the graph is control and memory. S1

Minimum bounded loop

goal → plan → execute one bounded step → observe → verify
                               ├── done
                               ├── revise within budget
                               ├── request approval/input
                               └── stop safely

Required brakes

Maximum steps, time, tokens, cost, and tool effects. S1
No-progress and repeated-failure detection. S1
Explicit done/blocked assertions. S1
Checkpoint and resume contract. S1
Human gate before scope expansion or consequential effect. S1
Evidence required before a success claim. S1

Exercise

Create states for a research agent: intake, search, source review, draft, fact check, revision, complete, and blocked. List allowed transitions and a stop condition for each active state.

Research boundary

Planning methods such as tree search, reflection, and test-time scaling can improve some tasks but add inference cost and do not guarantee truth or safe action. S1