Handoffs
Can the next human or agent see who owns the next step, what changed, and why?
Failure signal: The workflow falls back to Slack memory, browser tabs, or one operator's private context.
Production agent checklist
Find why the AI workflow breaks after the demo.
Most production AI-agent failures are operating failures: unclear handoffs, stale memory, weak approvals, hidden spend, missing evidence, and no restart path. Use this checklist before buying more tooling or rolling the workflow out further.
Evidence
Can you replay the run without reading raw model logs line by line?
Failure signal: The model says it completed the task, but nobody can prove which data, tools, and decisions were used.
Approvals
Are risky actions blocked until the right person approves them?
Failure signal: Spend, credentials, customer commitments, production changes, or external posts rely on prompt wording alone.
Cost
Can you see cost per workflow, not just total API spend?
Failure signal: A loop gets expensive gradually and nobody notices until the invoice or customer complaint arrives.
Secrets
Can the agent complete the task without raw credentials or private customer data in prompts?
Failure signal: Debugging means pasting exports, keys, screenshots, or admin access into an unsafe channel.
Recovery
Is there a documented restart path when the model, browser, API, or worker fails?
Failure signal: A semantic failure silently corrupts state, then the team rebuilds the context from memory.
When to escalate
A checklist is enough for small issues. A rescue sprint is for expensive, recurring failure.
Empyer scopes one painful AI workflow, installs control around it, and leaves behind a runbook your team can operate without exposing raw secrets or reading model logs all day.
The agent or automation already touches a workflow that matters to revenue, customers, or team capacity.
The failure mode is messy: stale memory, bad handoffs, missing approvals, or silent quality drift.
The team needs a controlled operating loop more than another prompt pack.
A fixed $7,500-$25,000 sprint is rational if one brittle workflow becomes safe enough to rely on.
Bring one workflow, not a data dump.
Initial triage should describe the workflow, the business impact, and what breaks. Do not send passwords, API keys, private customer data, raw exports, PHI/PII, or production admin access. Real access planning happens only after fit is confirmed.
Start triage