09Agent evaluation has to measure more than final-answer quality. An agent can reach the right answer through an unsafe tool call, or fail efficiently while appearing fluent. Production readiness requires testing the full trajectory.
Build a task set from real work
Start with representative cases across common, high-value, high-risk, and edge conditions. Include incomplete inputs, conflicting sources, unavailable tools, and requests the agent must refuse or escalate.
Each case needs an expected outcome and acceptable path, not necessarily one exact sentence.
Score decisions and outcomes
Useful measures include task completion, groundedness, tool selection, parameter accuracy, policy compliance, latency, cost, and handoff quality. For multi-step work, inspect the sequence of decisions as well as the result.
Automated graders help with scale, but expert review remains important for nuanced business judgment.
Make evaluation continuous
Every model, prompt, tool, or knowledge change can alter behavior. A stable evaluation suite makes those changes visible before release.
Production failures and reviewer corrections should become new test cases. The goal is a living quality system, not a one-time acceptance test.