andydataguy
AI & SYSTEMS . AI and Data Solutions . 2024

Agent Redwood Blueprint

The 12-part blueprint for agentic systems

Andy Houston author chipBY ANDY HOUSTON
12-dimension Agent Redwood radar chart with per-axis scores lockingPERSONALITYPLANNINGMISSIONCONSTRAINTSMEMORYEVALTOOLSAWARENESSREWARDMETASTRATEGYINTEG12-DIMENSION ASSESSMENTONE-PAGE BLUEPRINT
12
agent dimensions
One-page
blueprint
Weeks→Hours
scoping time
Repeatable
ritual

Context

Internal and client teams trying to design real agentic systems (support triage, internal copilots, data workflows) without a shared language for what "an agent" actually is.

Problem

Conversations kept drifting into hype and vague wishlists. One person talked about tools, another about prompts, another about UX. Projects stalled because there was no disciplined way to scope what mattered first or how deep to go.

Approach

Formalized the Agent Redwood assessment: twelve components (Personality, Planning, Mission, Constraints, Memory, Evaluation, Tools, Awareness, Reward Model, Metadata, Strategy, Integrations). In working sessions, we score each dimension, rank importance, and decide how far to invest in each for v1. The output is a one-page blueprint that maps directly to architecture and implementation choices.

Per-dimension scoring session with importance-ranking flow.

12 DIMENSIONS . IMPORTANCE RANKINGDOMAIN FITTIME LEVERAGEDATA AVAILABILITYOPERATOR COSTREVERSIBILITYTEAM CAPACITYVENDOR LOCKREGULATORYRAMP COSTBRAND RISKTIME-TO-MVPNOVELTYTOP 4 KEPT . OTHERS STRUCK
RECEIPT FILM . THE ARC BEFORE TO AFTER
SCROLL TO SCRUB

The before-to-after, silent-legible: where it started, what the data showed, the decision that turned it, where it landed. Past performance guarantees nothing. The diagnosis method is the product.

RECEIPT · AGENT-REDWOOD-BLUEPRINTBEFORE / AFTERWHERE IT STARTEDWeeksof scoping debate per projectTools, prompts, and UX argued as though they were one question.WHAT THE DATA SHOWEDTWELVE DIMENSIONS, SCORED IN THE ROOMPersonalityPlanningMissionConstraintsMemoryEvaluationToolsAwarenessReward ModelMetadataStrategyIntegrationsEvery dimension stayed implicit, so the argument had nothing to resolve against.THE TURNWe named the twelve dimensions and scored each one.WHERE IT LANDEDHoursof scoping, in a few structured sessionsTHE METHOD IS THE PRODUCTPast performance guarantees nothing. The diagnosis method is the product.

Stack

  • Agent Redwood worksheets and diagrams
  • Orchestration stack (LangGraph, Pydantic-based agents, custom tools)
  • Standard version control and review

Result

12
agent dimensions

Across multiple projects, weeks of fuzzy debate compressed into a few structured sessions. Teams aligned on a concrete v1, killed low-leverage ideas early, and shipped simpler agents that held up in production and matched the constraints they actually had.

12 · AGENT DIMENSIONS

One-page-blueprint render. Scope decisions consolidated, low-leverage ideas struck through.

AGENT DIMENSIONSSCOPE BLUEPRINTDomain-specific agent trainingPer-tool guardrails wiredTool-budget cappingLatency-budget allocationGeneric agent platform parityMulti-tenant orchestrationVisual flow editor UISelf-host onboarding wizard12 DIMENSIONS . 4 KEPT

Impact

Agent Redwood turned "let us experiment with AI" into a repeatable design ritual. It gave everyone, from founders to engineers, a common mental model for what they were actually building.

Lessons

Most AI failures start as scoping failures. Making the twelve agent-specific dimensions explicit up front prevents painful surprises later.

Why this matters to you

For teams with a pile of AI ideas and no blueprint who want their next agent project to be shippable, not another slide deck.

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