Letting a model choose every next step can work for small, low-risk tasks. It is a poor default for workflows that touch customer data, money, access control, compliance, or irreversible operations.

Production systems usually combine model judgment with explicit workflow control. The model may classify an intent, extract fields, choose from approved options, or summarize results. The application decides which states exist, which transitions are legal, which tools can run in each state, and when a human must approve.

This is how reliable AI features are built: retrieval before generation, validation before writes, confirmation before destructive actions, logging around every side effect, and deterministic checks wherever possible.

In this chapter, you will design structured workflows around tool use: risk levels, confirmation gates, audit trails, budgets, human review, testing, and a guarded data-management assistant.