critic

critic is a fixed three-step pipeline: a drafter produces initial output, a critic identifies weaknesses, and a refiner improves the result.

It’s equivalent to an fsm with three unconditional steps: draft → critique → refine.

When to use it

• Essay or document writing with quality improvement
• Code generation with review
• Any task where a draft-critique-refine loop improves quality
• Structured iterative refinement with separate agent roles

File structure

agents/my-critic/
├── AGENT.md      ← pattern: critic, shared config
├── draft.md      ← system prompt for the draft step
├── critique.md   ← system prompt for the critique step
└── refine.md     ← system prompt for the refine step

AGENT.md

---
name: essay-critic
description: Writes and refines essays through critique.
version: "1.0.0"
pattern: critic
call:
  model:
    role: writer
---

No body needed — each step has its own .md file.

draft.md

You are an expert writer. Given the topic or requirements, write a comprehensive first draft.

Focus on:
- Clear structure with logical flow
- Specific, concrete examples
- Engaging opening and strong conclusion

Write the complete draft. Call finish with key="done" and the full draft as value.

critique.md

You are a rigorous editor. You have received a draft to evaluate.

Identify the three most significant weaknesses:
1. Content gaps or factual issues
2. Structural or flow problems
3. Style or clarity issues

For each weakness, provide specific, actionable improvement suggestions.

Call finish with key="done" and the critique as value.

refine.md

You have a draft and a critique. Rewrite the draft to address every critique point.

Make targeted improvements — don't rewrite what's already good.
Preserve the strengths of the original draft.

Call finish with key="done" and the improved draft as value.

Scaffold

tama add critic my-agent

Per-step model configuration

Each step file can override the model:

---
call:
  model:
    name: anthropic:claude-opus-4-6
    temperature: 0.1
---

You are a rigorous editor...

Need more flexibility?

critic always runs all three steps unconditionally. For conditional routing (e.g., skip critique if the draft is already good), use fsm instead.