Boss: assemble the system
A request hits a bare model and it fails. Equip retrieval, a tool, or a context trim, sometimes a two-step pipeline, until the assistant goes from FAIL to SUCCESS.
1A request hit a bare model and it failed. Equip the capability that fixes it.your turn
assembly benchfails
request
What's our current AWS bill this month, to the dollar?
the assistant replies
It's probably around $4,000 this month.
requestnext slot?answer
equip the capability that makes it succeed
Assembled 0/3
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You can assemble useful assistants. Now: how do these systems run in practice, as agents?
6.1 The harness: the loop, made realBuilds on5.1The model is frozen and stateless5.2RAG: retrieval as a callback to similarity5.3Tools & agents: the loop around a frozen model5.4Context rot: when more context hurts
Common questions
What is "Boss: assemble the system" about?
A request hits a bare model and it fails. Equip retrieval, a tool, or a context trim, sometimes a two-step pipeline, until the assistant goes from FAIL to SUCCESS.
What problem does it solve?
A bare model just failed three real requests. Can you equip the right capability for each one so it succeeds?
What will I be able to do after this lesson?
You can assemble a working assistant for a task by equipping a frozen model with the right capabilities (retrieval, tools, context trimming), and chain them into a pipeline when one step isn't enough.
What comes next?
You can assemble useful assistants. Now: how do these systems run in practice, as agents?