Blueprint First, Model Second: A Framework for Deterministic LLM Workflow
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Abstract (arXiv)
While powerful, the inherent non-determinism of large language model (LLM) agents limits their application in structured operational environments where procedural fidelity and predictable execution are strict requirements. This limitation stems from current architectures that conflate probabilistic, high-level planning with low-level action execution within a single generative process. To address this, we introduce the textscSource Code Agent framework, a new paradigm built on the ``Blueprint First, Model Second'' philosophy that decouples workflow logic from the generative model. An expert-defined operational procedure is first codified into a source code-based Execution Blueprint, which is then executed by a deterministic engine. The LLM is strategically invoked as a specialized tool to handle bounded, complex sub-tasks within the workflow, but never to decide the workflow's path. We evaluate on the TravelPlanner benchmark for constraint-aware travel planning. The textscSource Code Agent achieves a 35.56% final pass rate, a 97.6% improvement over the state-of-the-art ATLAS baseline (18.00%) on the same Claude-Sonnet-4 backbone. Critically, it reduces constraint violations by 96.0% (11 vs 275) while improving execution efficiency by 27.1% (10.2±0.7 steps vs 14.0). Two production incident-diagnosis deployments and additional results on ScienceWorld and ALFWorld confirm that the architecture transfers beyond travel planning to procedurally well-defined, constraint-intensive workflows. Our work enables the verifiable and reliable deployment of autonomous agents in applications governed by strict procedural logic.
Key facts. Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 32 of its 38 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 1 Aug 2025.
Builds on
32 of 38 references.
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20 more
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 10.
11 papers.
- 2026Reason Less, Verify More: Deterministic Gates Recover a Silent Policy-Violation Failure Mode in Tool-Using LLM Agentscited by 8
- 2026Toward Expert Investment Teams:A Multi-Agent LLM System with Fine-Grained Trading Taskscited by 7
- 2026Compiled AI: Deterministic Code Generation for LLM-Based Workflow Automationcited by 3
- 2025NormCode: A Semi-Formal Language for Auditable AI Planningcited by 1
- 2026Auto-Policy, not Auto-Skill: Compiled Agent Skills for the Physical Worldcited by 1
- 2026FlowMind: Execute-Summarize for Structured Workflow Generation from LLM Reasoningcited by 0
- 2026Same Input, Different Scores: A Multi Model Study on the Inconsistency of LLM Judgecited by 0
- 2026Harness as an Asset: Enforcing Determinism via the Convergent AI Agent Framework (CAAF)cited by 0
- 2026GraphBit: A Graph-based Agentic Framework for Non-Linear Agent Orchestrationcited by 0
- 2026SPL: Orchestrating Workflows with Declarative Deterministic-Probabilistic Compositioncited by 0
- 2026Multi-Agent Scheduling with LLM-Assisted Contract Net Negotiation for Stream Processing in Mobile Edge Computingcited by 0
- 2026Auto-Policy, not Auto-Skill: Compiled Agent Skills for the Physical World25 Aug 2026
- 2026Multi-Agent Scheduling with LLM-Assisted Contract Net Negotiation for Stream Processing in Mobile Edge Computing19 Jul 2026
- 2026Reason Less, Verify More: Deterministic Gates Recover a Silent Policy-Violation Failure Mode in Tool-Using LLM Agents8 Jul 2026
- 2026SPL: Orchestrating Workflows with Declarative Deterministic-Probabilistic Composition6 Jul 2026
- 2026Harness as an Asset: Enforcing Determinism via the Convergent AI Agent Framework (CAAF)18 Apr 2026
- 2026Compiled AI: Deterministic Code Generation for LLM-Based Workflow Automation6 Apr 2026
- 2026GraphBit: A Graph-based Agentic Framework for Non-Linear Agent Orchestration8 Mar 2026
- 2026Toward Expert Investment Teams:A Multi-Agent LLM System with Fine-Grained Trading Tasks26 Feb 2026
- 2026FlowMind: Execute-Summarize for Structured Workflow Generation from LLM Reasoning12 Feb 2026
- 2026Same Input, Different Scores: A Multi Model Study on the Inconsistency of LLM Judge4 Feb 2026
- 2025NormCode: A Semi-Formal Language for Auditable AI Planning11 Dec 2025