Agentic AI Process Observability: Discovering Behavioral Variability
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Software engineering coding agents
Abstract (arXiv)
AI agents that leverage Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly becoming core building blocks of modern software systems. A wide range of frameworks is now available to support the specification of such applications. These frameworks enable the definition of agent setups using natural language prompting, which specifies the roles, goals, and tools assigned to the various agents involved. Within such setups, agent behavior is non-deterministic for any given input, highlighting the critical need for robust debugging and observability tools. In this work, we explore the use of process and causal discovery applied to agent execution trajectories as a means of enhancing developer observability. This approach aids in monitoring and understanding the emergent variability in agent behavior. Additionally, we complement this with LLM-based static analysis techniques to distinguish between intended and unintended behavioral variability. We argue that such instrumentation is essential for giving developers greater control over evolving specifications and for identifying aspects of functionality that may require more precise and explicit definitions.
Key facts. Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Software engineering coding agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 6 of its 29 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 May 2025.
Builds on
6 of 29 references.
References · 6
- 2023Large Language Models for Software Engineering: Survey and Open Problemscited by 181
- 2023An Empirical Study of the Non-determinism of ChatGPT in Code Generationcited by 137
- 2022AI-Augmented Business Process Management Systems: A Research Manifestocited by 28
- 2023The WHY in Business Processes: Discovery of Causal Execution Dependenciescited by 7
- 2024The Emergence of Large Language Models in Static Analysis: A First Look through Micro-Benchmarkscited by 4
- 2024Towards a Simple and Extensible Standard for Object-Centric Event Data (OCED) -- Core Model, Design Space, and Lessons Learnedcited by 4
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2025: 3; 2026: 7.
10 papers.
- 2025Taming Uncertainty via Automation: Observing, Analyzing, and Optimizing Agentic AI Systemscited by 12
- 2025Federation of Agents: A Semantics-Aware Communication Fabric for Large-Scale Agentic AIcited by 7
- 2026TraceCompiler: Skill-Guided Mining and Compilation of LLM Agent Traces into Mostly Deterministic Workflowscited by 5
- 2026AI Agents Push Humans Out of the Loopcited by 5
- 2026Agentic Design Patterns: A System-Theoretic Frameworkcited by 4
- 2025A Research Roadmap for Augmenting Software Engineering Processes and Software Products with Generative AIcited by 1
- 2026Semantic Feature Analysis: Improving Agents Without Searching Over Rolloutscited by 0
- 2026OpenClaw and Ollama in Agentic AI: Toward Fully Autonomous and Scalable AI Agent Systemscited by 0
- 2026Closing the Consistency Gap: Self-Evolving Agents That Learn to Stay on Coursecited by 0
- 2026A Hybrid Dependency-Aware Framework for Task Decomposition and Dynamic Agent Generation in Oracle-to-PostgreSQL Migrationcited by 0
- 2026A Hybrid Dependency-Aware Framework for Task Decomposition and Dynamic Agent Generation in Oracle-to-PostgreSQL Migration13 Sep 2026
- 2026Closing the Consistency Gap: Self-Evolving Agents That Learn to Stay on Course8 Sep 2026
- 2026AI Agents Push Humans Out of the Loop24 Aug 2026
- 2026TraceCompiler: Skill-Guided Mining and Compilation of LLM Agent Traces into Mostly Deterministic Workflows3 Aug 2026
- 2026OpenClaw and Ollama in Agentic AI: Toward Fully Autonomous and Scalable AI Agent Systems16 Apr 2026
- 2026Semantic Feature Analysis: Improving Agents Without Searching Over Rollouts12 Apr 2026
- 2026Agentic Design Patterns: A System-Theoretic Framework27 Jan 2026
- 2025A Research Roadmap for Augmenting Software Engineering Processes and Software Products with Generative AI30 Oct 2025
- 2025Federation of Agents: A Semantics-Aware Communication Fabric for Large-Scale Agentic AI24 Sep 2025
- 2025Taming Uncertainty via Automation: Observing, Analyzing, and Optimizing Agentic AI Systems15 Jul 2025
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2024Watson: A Cognitive Observability Framework for the Reasoning of LLM-Powered Agents
- 2026Agentic CLEAR: Automating Multi-Level Evaluation of LLM Agents
- 2024AgentOps: Enabling Observability of LLM Agents
- 2024Defining and Detecting the Defects of the Large Language Model-based Autonomous Agents
- 2025Process-Centric Analysis of Agentic Software Systems
- 2025Beyond Black-Box Benchmarking: Observability, Analytics, and Optimization of Agentic Systems
- 2025AgentSight: System-Level Observability for AI Agents Using eBPF
- 2026Interpreting Agentic Systems: Beyond Model Explanations to System-Level Accountability