Pattern Selection Guide
How to characterize your use case, select a primary pattern, and identify complementary patterns before you build.
Step 1: Characterize your use case
- How many steps does the task take?
- Is the sequence fixed, output-dependent, or can some of it run concurrently?
- Does the input schema vary by category or request type?
- How high-stakes is the output — conversational, significant, or irreversible?
- Does the agent need memory of past interactions, or persisted domain data over time?
- Will one genie handle this, or do you need specialists coordinated by a recipe?
Step 2: Select the primary pattern
Use the When to Use Each Pattern table as your reference. The primary pattern governs the genie's core reasoning or execution approach.
Step 3: Add complementary patterns
Tool Use discipline is almost always required — it governs how the genie interacts with systems. Human-in-the-Loop is required whenever the genie takes consequential actions. Controlled Data Volume is required whenever a skill can return more than a handful of records.
Documenting your pattern selection
Record which patterns you chose, why, and which real Workato mechanism each maps to — this is what makes the genie maintainable and debuggable after launch.