ConeheadAI · leftover lesson

SNK3-048 · Curriculum How-to

X snack: cost of endless agent loops

L2–L5 · Capable–Builder (bootstrap — system rebalances) · ~3m

harnesscost_controlagentsAUT · J8 · S2C3.3C5.2

Look for this insight

Endless agent loops have a cost (tokens, time, error). Budget steps; stop criteria matter.

Lesson hook

Here's some feed wisdom worth keeping: those continuous self-prompting loops can quietly burn through tokens and money. Smart systems need budgets, stop conditions, and human gates — not an infinite 'get smarter' setting with no bill cap.

Do this now

Open any chat tool and paste: 'Design a 4-bullet budget policy for an AI agent loop: max dollars/day, max steps, when to stop, when to page a human.' You're done with 4 bullets that include a hard stop.

Completion check: four_bullet_budget

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