Your agent architecture has a half-life of 6 months — Dan Farrelly, CTO, Inngest
The talk addresses the rapid obsolescence of AI agent architectures, noting that their 'half-life' can be as short as six months due to evolving models and frameworks. The core thesis is that engineers must build systems by focusing on three decoupled conceptual layers—Execution, Context, and Compute—to ensure stability. The Execution Layer is identified as the most stable component, responsible for managing flow, state durability, retries, and coordinating complex workflows regardless of changes in LLMs or prompts.
Key takeaways
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Agent Architecture Volatility
AI agent architectures are highly volatile; components like prompts may last weeks, models months, and frameworks can quickly become outdated. This rapid change necessitates an architectural approach that decouples core primitives to prevent technical debt.
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The Three Conceptual Layers
3:30
Effective agent design requires considering three discrete layers: the Execution Layer (the 'brain,' handling flow, state, and durability); the Context Layer (the 'knowledge,' including models, prompts, tools, and memory); and the Compute Layer (the 'hands,' involving sandboxes, runtimes, or browsers).
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Focus on the Execution Layer
5:20
The execution layer must be designed to remain stable over years. It is responsible for managing the full life cycle of an agent—including planning, model calls, code running, and sub-agent invocation—independent of the context or compute used.