Stabilise the Core Loop Before Adding Modalities

Intent

Avoid compounding complexity by stabilising the agentic control loop and contracts before introducing new modalities.

Context

Adding image/audio inputs or outputs expands: - data types - toolchains - failure modes - evaluation surface

If the core loop is unstable, multimodal work becomes hard to diagnose and easy to misattribute.

Forces

• Product ambition vs architectural clarity
• Learning speed vs reliability
• Feature breadth vs debuggability

Solution

Define a clear "core loop" (inputs → reasoning → tools → outputs) and stabilise it first: - contracts (prompt/schema) - evaluation and regression tests - observability and traceability Only then expand modalities behind flags or separate adapters.

Implementation signals

• Explicit decision to defer multimodal scope
• Regression tests focus on core text workflows
• Modalities planned as adapters rather than embedded into core logic

Consequences

Benefits

• Faster learning with lower debugging overhead
• Clearer evidence of what improved quality
• Safer incremental expansion

Costs

• Slower delivery of multimodal features
• Some insights may be delayed until richer inputs exist

Failure modes

• "Deferral" becomes permanent avoidance
• Multimodal requires rethinking contracts if postponed too long without design foresight

Reuse notes

Make deferral explicit: - define what "core loop stable" means - list preconditions for enabling multimodal - keep a small spike path to avoid total blindness

Confidence

Medium — observed as a repeated scope control move; broader validation still pending.