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Canon

Playbook

Choose a topology

Walk the decision tree. Do not start from a crew because the demo looked collaborative.

When: You are about to pick chain vs agent vs crew vs harness.

  1. 01

    Run the chooser

    Use /choose or GET /api/canon/decide. Answer whether the path is nameable, whether the environment talks back, and what the work is.

    Workflows versus Agents
  2. 02

    Take the default corpus

    Checkpoints → LangGraph/Mastra. Types → Pydantic AI. Handoffs → Agents SDK. Code-act → smolagents+E2B. Coding → a harness. Do not mix two orchestrators.

    Choosing a Framework
  3. 03

    Refuse the rest

    If the chooser said workflow, do not add a crew. If it said harness, do not start from a blank ReAct loop.

    Anti-Patterns

Done when

  • A named pattern from the atlas, a default corpus, and a refuse-list.

Refuse

  • Star-driven selection. Pick for the constraint: checkpoints, types, harness, documents. Read Canon's atlas.
  • Role-play without a different ACI. A role is real only if it changes tools, prompt, or schema. Otherwise it is one agent.
  • Shared mega-context. Fresh or sliced windows, written briefs, structured returns. Subagents protect the parent.