SHOULD YOUR AI AGENT ANSWER—OR ESCALATE?

Retrieval layer between agents and search APIs. Decides when to search, when to answer, and logs every decision.

// for teams with customer-facing agents on paid search APIs // legal, compliance, support workflows

> DESIGN-PARTNER AUTOPSY > HOW IT WORKS
!! POLICY BLOCK / legal
{
  "allow_answer": false,
  "audit_id": "99c08409-28ec-4427-...",
  "policy": {
    "profile": "legal",
    "action": "block",
    "reasons": ["only 2 qualifying sources; minimum is 3"]
  },
  "overall_confidence": 0.80
}
>> QUEST LOG

Not another search API. A gate before the agent speaks.

  1. 01
    Should the agent search? Probe once. Fan out only when confidence is low.
  2. 02
    Should the agent answer? allow_answer under legal, support, research policies.
  3. 03
    Can we prove what happened? Sources, policy calls, blocks—each with an audit ID.
agent > probe > policy > allow_answer > audit
>> BENCHMARK / tavily live

20 production-style tasks. Governance first; cost second.

BLOCKED x5
legal policy stopped answers when evidence or authority fell short
100 > 26
paid searches vs naive always-search — 74% fewer
AUDIT OK
every decision traceable via audit_id + compliance export

WITHOUT GOV

  • 5 searches per step
  • no allow_answer gate
  • token traces only
  • legal won't sign off

WITH FANOUT

  • 1 probe when confident
  • block / escalate + reasons
  • audit log + HTML report
  • ship with evidence
>> INTEGRATION

Drop in before Tavily. One call from your agent loop.

python.exe
from query_fanout import RetrievalClient

client = RetrievalClient(preset="tavily", policy="legal", agent_id="support-bot")
report = await client.retrieve("How do refund policies work?")

if report.allow_answer:
    answer(report.synthesis)
else:
    escalate(report.audit_id, report.policy.reasons)

DESIGN-PARTNER RETRIEVAL AUTOPSY

Send 3-7 days of search logs (query + searches per step). Before/after report in 48h. See the submission guide for format and data handling.

> REQUEST DESIGN-PARTNER SLOT> AUTOPSY GUIDE

Contact: autopsy@queryfanout.dev · submission guide · limited design-partner slots