Title: Discussion 7 — Linear Workflow or State Machine?
Course: AIINFRA 300: Agentic AI & the Model Context Protocol (MCP) > Section: Week 07 — Code-First Agent Frameworks I: LangGraph and Pydantic AI

💬 Discussion 7 — Linear Workflow or State Machine? (20 pts)

Think about your capstone project's core workflow — the main thing your agent will actually do for a user. Post a response addressing:

- Is that core workflow fundamentally linear (input → tool calls → structured output), or is it a genuine state machine with branching, loops, or a need for durable/resumable/auditable runs?
- Based on this week's lecture and lab, would you build it with Pydantic AI or LangGraph — and why, specifically? Point to a concrete feature (e.g. interrupt(), checkpointing, structured output validation) that drives your choice.
- What's one part of your workflow where you're genuinely unsure which category it falls into, and why?

Respond to at least two classmates — especially useful is pushing back (respectfully) if you think a classmate's workflow is more graph-shaped or more linear than they described it, and explaining your reasoning.