Reflection Agent Pattern
What It Is
Reflection adds explicit critique-and-revise loops before final output or execution.
The agent evaluates its own work against criteria (accuracy, completeness, policy compliance) and improves it.
Reflection is most valuable when it is structured and evidence-driven, not just “think harder.”
Why It Matters in Enterprise
Enterprises value correctness and consistency. Reflection reduces errors before they hit customers or systems.
It supports compliance: the agent can check outputs against policy constraints and required fields.
Reflection also improves trust by making quality control a first-class design feature.
Common Mistakes
- Using reflection as vague self-talk instead of a checklist with concrete criteria.
- Not grounding reflection in sources/observations (critiquing hallucinations with more hallucinations).
- Running endless critique loops without a budget or stopping rule.
- Letting reflection override enforced guardrails (“it seems safe”).
How Copyl Supports This Pattern
- Copyl’s governance-first approach keeps reflection within enforced constraints.
- Tool and data access boundaries make it possible to verify claims against real system sources.
- Auditability allows you to see what checks were performed and why decisions were made.