Passing Variables in AI Agents: Pain Points, Fixes, and Best Practices

The text discusses the challenges and solutions related to passing variables in AI agents, emphasizing the importance of state management, identity control, and structured communication to ensure robust and efficient workflows. It highlights five primary pain points, such as forgetful assistants and chaotic handoffs, which arise from improper variable handling and statelessness inherent in language models. To address these, the text suggests adopting schema-first tool calling, implementing agentic identity with OAuth 2.1, and utilizing three types of memory: episodic, semantic, and procedural. By 2026, these practices have evolved into a comprehensive framework for building reliable AI agents, incorporating state machines with checkpoint recovery, standardized tool access, observability, and version control. The guide underscores the need for agents to have a structured memory and identity system to avoid errors like data leakage and miscommunication, ensuring compliance and efficiency in production environments.