Proposal — Agentic Plugin Loops NOT IMPLEMENTED

This page describes a proposed extension for multi-step plugin orchestration. Currently, plugins are single-pass: they receive evidence and return one result. This proposal enables iterative reasoning loops.

The Problem

Some tasks require multiple steps. Example: a Z3 solver determines a constraint set is UNSAT. To find a solution, it needs to relax a variable, which requires re-querying the KB for alternative values, then re-running Z3 with the new evidence.

Current limitation: the plugin gets one shot. If it needs more information, it can't ask for it.

Proposed Continuation Protocol

A plugin signals it needs more work by returning Status: continuation:

## Plugin Result
Status: continuation
Plugin: z3-solver
Confidence: low

## Continuation Request
Action: retrieve
Query: Alternative values for variable X when constraint Y is relaxed
Reason: Initial constraint set is UNSAT. Need relaxation options.

The engine would then:

1. Parse the continuation request
2. Run a new retrieval cycle with the plugin's query
3. Feed the new evidence back to the same plugin on stdin
4. Repeat until Status: success or Status: error or budget exhausted

Task Dependencies (Multi-Step)

For complex reasoning, a plugin could return multiple sub-tasks with dependencies:

## Continuation Request
Action: multi-step

### Task 1
Action: retrieve
Query: Values of variable X
DependsOn: none

### Task 2
Action: retrieve
Query: Constraints involving variable X
DependsOn: none

### Task 3
Action: plugin
Plugin: z3-solver
Input: Combine results of Task 1 and Task 2
DependsOn: task-1, task-2

The engine would build a DAG, execute independent tasks in parallel, wait for dependencies, detect cycles → error.

Proposed Budget Controls

{
  "maxPluginContinuations": 3,
  "maxPluginTotalTimeMs": 60000,
  "continuationRetrievalProfile": "fast"
}

Why Not Yet

• Current evaluation suites don't require multi-step reasoning
• Adds complexity to the plugin contract (backward-incompatible if not careful)
• Budget management across loops needs careful design to prevent runaway costs
• The single-pass model covers current use cases well

Implementation Path

1. Add continuation status parsing to plugin manager
2. Add loop in engine with budget tracking
3. Add DAG executor for multi-task continuations
4. Create evaluation suite with multi-step scenarios