# Agents posts

> Every post in Agents, newest first.

- [Shopify compressed instructions that Sidekick had to read over and over](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/shopify-sidekick-prompt-compression/index.md): The cost of reading the same instructions can add up when an assistant serves many people at once. (2026-11-08)
- [Reflexion gave AI agents written notes to use on a retry](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/reflexion-agent-written-memory/index.md): An agent can carry a lesson forward in words, the way a programmer might leave a note after a failed test. (2026-11-08)
- [A compiler written by 16 Claude agents needed a reliable way to divide its bugs](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/parallel-claude-compiler-tests/index.md): Sixteen agents can work at once. The trouble begins when a single broken test gives all of them the same job. (2026-11-08)
- [GEPA improved AI prompts by reading how a task went wrong](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/gepa-learning-from-agent-traces/index.md): A low score says something went wrong. A record of tool calls and replies can give the next attempt more to work with. (2026-11-08)
- [The Darwin Gödel Machine kept old versions of its coding agents in play](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/darwin-godel-machine-rewrites-coding-tools/index.md): The best agent in one round does not always make the best starting point for the next. (2026-11-08)
- [Cursor's coding agents got stuck waiting for each other](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/cursor-planners-workers-agent-coordination/index.md): Adding more agents helped less when each had to wait for permission to claim the next piece of work. (2026-11-08)
- [A study of coding agents found a larger gain in commits than in releases](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/coding-agents-software-release-gap/index.md): Generating more changes and getting more software into users' hands are separate measures. (2026-11-08)
- [Coding agents missed more bugs when the answer lay beyond the changed lines](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/coding-agent-bug-review-misses/index.md): A reviewer may need to know what a distant part of the program expects before it can spot a mistake in today's change. (2026-11-08)
- [An AI manager gave a worker the day off and closed the store](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/andon-agent-closed-market-for-graduation/index.md): An ordinary request for time off made a business experiment choose between staffing the counter and accommodating the person who worked there. (2026-11-08)
- [Asking an agent to do a job still leaves the question of what it may do](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/agent-permissions-user-controls/index.md): The same assistant can need different limits for different people, even when they ask for the same result. (2026-11-08)