Checking and Refining the Agent's Reasoning › Techniques for Verification

You can guide agents to check their work in several ways. Each technique serves a different purpose.

The simplest approach: explicitly ask the agent if it's sure.

You answered X. Are you confident in this answer? 
Double-check your reasoning before confirming.

This prompt nudges the agent to review its work without dictating how to do it. Sometimes that's all you need.

Ask the agent to solve the problem a different way, then compare results.

You solved this using method A. Can you solve it using method B 
and see if you get the same answer?

If both approaches yield the same result, you can be more confident. If they differ, something went wrong.

Ask the agent to explain its reasoning in more detail.

Explain why you chose this approach and why your answer makes sense.

When the agent has to justify its reasoning, it often catches its own mistakes. This is similar to how explaining a problem to someone else helps you spot errors in your own thinking.

Remind the agent of any constraints or requirements, then ask if its answer satisfies them.

Your answer is X. Does this satisfy all the requirements:
- Must be less than 100
- Must be a whole number
- Must be positive

Verify each constraint.

This structured check helps catch violations the agent might have overlooked.