CHAPTER 04 · Why Multi-Agent Systems Fail: The MAST Taxonomy · 4 / 7
A practical fix: layered verification
One of the most actionable recommendations is that verification should be layered and integrated, not a single shallow pass:
- Low level: syntax and execution (does it run?).
- Mid level: behavioral checks and task-specific logic (does it do the right thing?).
- High level: alignment with the user's actual intent or objective success (is it what was wanted?).
Adding these layers requires real architectural changes and sometimes symbolic checks, not just more instructions in a prompt. This connects directly to the "Intern Test" idea from the context-engineering material: prefer hard, computable checks.