Planning

As explained in Investing for Programmers

A planning pattern is an agent architecture in which an agent dynamically constructs and executes a sequence of actions toward a complex goal.

Planning is an agent architecture that dynamically constructs and executes an action sequence for a complex goal. It turns a broad objective into an ordered path rather than relying on one fixed response. section 9.1.2

Planning belongs to a family of agentic design patterns that separates different ways to improve or extend agent behavior:

• Reflection evaluates past actions and adjusts later strategies through feedback. section 9.1.2
• Tool use delegates retrieval, transformation, or computation to external tools, libraries, or APIs. section 9.1.2
• Multi-agent collaboration distributes work across cooperating agents. section 9.1.2

Figure 9.1 A reference workflow for an AI agent

Use the reference workflow to connect planning with the broader execution loop of an AI agent. section 9.1.2

How Investing for Programmers covers it

How deep it goes

Defines planning within a pattern taxonomy but does not detail planning algorithms, representations, or execution mechanics.

Examples

Uses a reference workflow for an AI agent as the main visual artifact.

What you can do after

Evaluate/understand planning as a way to organize agent behavior around ordered actions and complex goals.

How it connects

Connects planning with reflection, tool use, and multi-agent collaboration as complementary agentic design patterns.

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Also explained in

• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  AI Agents in ActionSequential planning is the organization of dependent actions into an ordered plan in which later actions follow earlier ones.
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  liveBookmanning.com
  Build an AI Agent (From Scratch)Planning is the construction of an ordered strategy or set of steps for completing a complex task.
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  liveBookmanning.com
  AI Agents in Action, Second EditionPlanning is the process of constructing and organizing steps needed to achieve a goal.
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  liveBookmanning.com
  The Art of AI Product DevelopmentOnline planning is the dynamic generation and revision of an action plan while an agent is executing a task.
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  liveBookmanning.com
  Spring AI in ActionAgent planning is the capability of selecting a path through available actions to achieve a desired goal.

Compare how 6 books explain planning →

Related concepts

• chain-of-thought promptingused by · Chain-of-thought prompting is a technique that elicits or guides a model to produce or follow intermediate reasoning steps before a final answer.
• AI agentkind of · An AI agent is a computational system that uses artificial intelligence to interpret information, select actions, and pursue goals through interaction with an environment.
• project life cyclepart of · A project life cycle is the sequence of phases through which a project progresses from initiation through completion and delivery.
• decompositioncontrasts with · Decomposition is the process of dividing a complex whole into smaller constituent parts that can be handled or analyzed separately.
• loopcontrasts with · A loop is a programming control-flow construct that repeatedly executes a block of instructions according to an iteration rule or continuation condition.
• flow engineeringalternative to · Flow engineering is the deliberate design of an explicit sequence of operations for an AI workflow rather than relying entirely on autonomous planning.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Investing for Programmers. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.