SUBMISSION: Case 2 — Stateful Support Agent with Function Calling

# SUBMISSION: Case 2 — Agentic Tool Use: Build a Stateful Customer Support Agent with Function Calling & Escalation Gates > **Industry Context:** An e-commerce platform needs an autonomous customer support agent to resolve customer inquiries regarding order status, shipping delays, and refund requests. The agent must enforce strict determinism: querying order tracking via API, verifying refund eligibility before triggering a refund, gating destructive actions behind human approval thresholds, and preventing infinite loops. --- ## Deliverables 1. `support_agent.py`: Complete agent loop with tool definitions (`get_order_status`, `check_refund_eligibility`, `issue_refund`, `escalate_to_human`). 2. `tool_schemas.json`: Strict JSON schema definitions with semantic descriptions of WHEN to call each tool. 3. `test_conversations.py`: Test suite verifying execution traces across happy paths, multi-step dependency orders, out-of-scope banter, and unauthorized refund attempts. --- ## Starter Code Scaffold ```python import json from typing import Dict, Any, List TOOLS = [ { "name": "get_order_status", "description": "Look up order tracking and delivery status. Use when the customer provides or asks about an order_id.", "parameters": { "type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}}, "required": ["order_id"] } }, { "name": "check_refund_eligibility", "description": "Verify whether an order qualifies for a refund. MUST be called BEFORE calling issue_refund.", "parameters": { "type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}}, "required": ["order_id"] } } ] def agent_loop(user_query: str, chat_history: List[Dict[str, str]], max_iterations: int = 5) -> str: """Execute agent tool loop with cycle detection and maximum iteration guard.""" # TODO: Implement tool execution, state tracking, and exit conditions pass ``` --- ## 100-Point Evaluation Rubric - **Criterion 1: Tool Schema Engineering (25 pts)** — Descriptive docstrings clarifying parameter semantics, required attributes, and explicit trigger contexts. - **Criterion 2: Multi-Step Precondition Gating (25 pts)** — Architectural barrier preventing `issue_refund` execution without prior validated `check_refund_eligibility`. - **Criterion 3: Loop Safety & State Management (25 pts)** — Deterministic `max_iterations=5` termination, handling `tool_calls is None`, graceful degradation on API failures. - **Criterion 4: Test Suite & Trace Verification (25 pts)** — Comprehensive automated unit tests verifying execution traces across normal, adversarial, and boundary flows. --- ## Implementation Guide & Case Steps > *"Build a support agent that can look up order status, check refund eligibility, create tickets, and escalate to humans. Use Claude's tool-use feature."* --- ## Step 1 — Define the tools ```python tools = [ { "name": "get_order_status", "description": "Look up the current status, tracking info, and estimated delivery of a customer's order. Use when the customer asks about their order, shipping, delivery, or tracking. Requires order_id.", "input_schema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "order_id": {"type": "string", "description": "Order ID, e.g., '12345'"} }, "required": ["order_id"] } }, { "name": "check_refund_eligibility", "description": "Check if an order is eligible for refund. Returns eligibility status and reasoning. Use BEFORE promising a refund.", "input_schema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "order_id": {"type": "string"} }, "required": ["order_id"] } }, { "name": "initiate_refund", "description": "Initiate a refund for an eligible order. Only call after check_refund_eligibility returns eligible=true. Returns the refund ID and ETA.", "input_schema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "order_id": {"type": "string"}, "reason": {"type": "string", "description": "Customer's stated reason for refund"} }, "required": ["order_id", "reason"] } }, { "name": "create_support_ticket", "description": "Create a support ticket for issues that need human attention. Use when: customer expresses frustration, request is outside scope, or you're unsure how to proceed.", "input_schema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "customer_id": {"type": "string"}, "category": {"type": "string", "enum": ["complaint", "feature_request", "billing", "technical", "other"]}, "summary": {"type": "string"}, "priority": {"type": "string", "enum"