# From Goals to Aspects, Revisited: An NFR Pattern Language for Agentic AI Systems

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.00472 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00472/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 6 of its 30 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Feb 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks](https://mlsanity.com/agents/general-llm-agent-frameworks-and-benchmarks/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11366/) (2023)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11432/) (2023)
- [The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07864/) (2023)
- [Requirements Engineering Challenges in Building AI-Based Complex Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.11791/) (2019)
- [iStar 2.0 Language Guide](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.07767/) (2016)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Agentic AI systems exhibit numerous crosscutting concerns -- security, observability, cost management, fault tolerance -- that are poorly modularized in current implementations, contributing to the high failure rate of AI projects in reaching production. The goals-to-aspects methodology proposed at RE 2004 demonstrated that aspects can be systematically discovered from i* goal models by identifying non-functional soft-goals that crosscut functional goals. This paper revisits and extends that methodology to the agentic AI domain. We present a pattern language of 12 reusable patterns organized across four NFR categories (security, reliability, observability, cost management), each mapping an i* goal model to a concrete aspect implementation using an AOP framework for Rust. Four patterns address agent-specific crosscutting concerns absent from traditional AOP literature: tool-scope sandboxing, prompt injection detection, token budget management, and action audit trails. We extend the V-graph model to capture how agent tasks simultaneously contribute to functional goals and non-functional soft-goals. We validate the pattern language through a case study analyzing an open-source autonomous agent framework, demonstrating how goal-driven aspect discovery systematically identifies and modularizes crosscutting concerns. The pattern language offers a principled approach for engineering reliable agentic AI systems through early identification of crosscutting concerns.