Map every hand-off
Record each tool's expected input and output: fields, types, meaning, requiredness and limits. A graph is easier to review when its hand-offs are explicit.
Guide 03 // Agent Preflight
PREFLIGHT THE CHAIN BEFORE IT RUNS.
A preflight compares the declared contract between each tool in an AI workflow, so a draft can be corrected before a downstream tool is asked to act.
Catch missing inputs
Find required fields that no earlier step supplies. The useful result is a concrete correction, such as adding a declared field or requesting human input.
Find stranded outputs
Flag values produced by one tool that no later step consumes. Remove the output, connect it to an explicit consumer or revise the expected schema.
Suggest bounded fixes
Recommend an explicit adapter, a corrected expected schema or human review. Do not silently rewrite the workflow or infer permission to use a secret or destination.
A useful result
Show the seam and the next correction.
A good preflight does not merely say that a tool chain is incompatible. It identifies the missing input, unused output or mismatched expectation, then returns a bounded next step that a person can review.
That keeps proposed changes visible and prevents an exploratory agent request from becoming an invisible system change.
When a proposed change needs several declared checks, present them as one ordered readiness pack: what was checked, what stopped, what still fits, and the next human-review action. The pack makes a complex change easier to assess; it does not turn a passing result into approval to run it.
Compatibility is not authority
Preflight can explain whether a proposed chain fits together. It does not execute tools, retrieve secrets, configure destinations, approve policy, queue work or grant an agent execution authority.
Use the result as a review record
Capture the chain version, the hand-off checked, the missing or stranded field, and the proposed correction. Prefer a named adapter or an explicit human-input step over an implicit transform. Keep sample data synthetic or redacted and keep account scope visible, so the review can be repeated without exposing payloads or credentials.
A passing preflight describes the draft at the time it was checked. It does not prove endpoint availability, guarantee delivery, or claim compatibility with a particular vendor or framework.