Zipai Optimizer
Orchestrates intelligent skill selection and execution for zipai optimizer workflows. Applies the 5 Laws of Elegant Defense to guide data naturally through the orchestration pipeline, preventing errors before they occur. Selects optimal skills based on multi-factor scoring including text similarity, historical performance, and system availability.
TL;DR Checklist
- Parse all inputs at boundary before processing (Law 2)
- Handle edge cases with early returns at function top (Law 1)
- Fail immediately with descriptive errors on invalid states (Law 4)
- Return new data structures, never mutate inputs (Law 3)
- Implement minimum 2-level fallback chain for all skill executions
- Log all skill selections with context for full audit trail
- Validate skill metadata and dependencies before selection
- Update confidence scores after each execution for learning
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Orchestration Flow │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
User Request ↓ ┌─────────────────┐ │ Parse Request │ │ & Extract │ │ Features │ └────────┬────────┘ ↓ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Evaluate Available Skills │ │ │ │ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ │ │ Skill A │ │ Skill B │ │ Skill C │ │ │ │ - Match Score│ │ - Match Score│ │ - Match Score│ │ │ │ - Confidence │ │ - Confidence │ │ - Confidence │ │ │ │ - History │ │ - History │ │ - History │ │ │ └──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────┴─────────────────┘ │ │ ↓ │ │ Select Best Skill │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ↓ ┌─────────────────┐ │ Execute Skill │ └────────┬────────┘ ↓ ┌─────────────────┐ │ Handle Result │ └────────┬────────┘ ↓ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Error Handling & Fallback │ │ │ │ Success? ────────► Return Result │ │ │ │ Fail? ────────┐ │ │ ↓ │ │ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Fallback Chain │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Retry with adjusted parameters │ │ │ │ 2. Try Alternative Skill (if available) │ │ │ │ 3. Defer to Human Operator (if critical) │ │ │ │ 4. Log & Return Error │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
When to Use
Use this skill when:
- Orchestrating multi-step workflows that require skill delegation
- Implementing adaptive skill routing based on confidence scores
- Building fallback mechanisms for failed skill executions
- Creating intelligent task decomposition and parallel execution
- Designing skill dependency graphs with automatic resolution
- Implementing skill selection with historical performance weighting
- Building agent systems that need to self-organize around tasks
When NOT to Use
Avoid this skill for:
- Direct task execution without orchestration needs - use individual skills instead
- High-frequency trading scenarios where latency must be minimized - the selection overhead may be prohibitive
- Simple linear workflows without branching or fallback requirements
- Cases where skill metadata is unavailable or unreliable
Core Workflow
Parse and Analyze Request - Extract intent, entities, and constraints from user input. Checkpoint: All required parameters must be present and in valid format before proceeding.
Score Available Skills - Calculate match scores using multi-factor algorithm:
- Text similarity between request and skill triggers
- Historical success rate for similar tasks
- Skill availability and health status
- Required dependencies and their availability
Checkpoint: Skip to fallback if no skill scores above threshold.
Select Optimal Skill - Choose skill with highest score that meets minimum confidence. Checkpoint: Verify skill has not been disabled or deprecated.
Execute with Fallback - Run skill execution wrapped in retry and fallback logic. Checkpoint: Log all execution attempts for audit trail.
Return or Fallback - Either return successful result or apply fallback chain:
- Retry with adjusted parameters
- Try alternative skill from
related-skills - Defer to human operator for critical tasks
Checkpoint: Record outcome with timing and confidence metadata.
Implementation Patterns
Pattern 1: Skill Selection Logic
def route_zipai_task(
task_payload: Dict[str, Any],
available_modules: List[Dict[str, Any]],
routing_config: Dict[str, Any]
) -> Dict[str, Any]:
"""Route a zipai optimization task to the most suitable processing module.
Evaluates modules against zipai-specific routing criteria:
- Context window alignment (token budget matching)
- Historical latency percentiles for similar task shapes
- Dependency graph compatibility (upstream/downstream readiness)
- Current queue depth and resource availability
Args:
task_payload: Parsed zipai task with intent, entities, and constraints
available_modules: List of active optimizer module metadata
routing_config: Thresholds and weights for multi-factor scoring
Returns:
Routing decision with selected module, confidence score, and execution hints
"""
if not task_payload.get("intent"):
raise ValueError("Zipai task payload missing required 'intent' field")
task_shape = _extract_task_shape(task_payload)
best_module = None
best_score = 0.0
for module in available_modules:
# Zipai-specific scoring: context alignment + historical performance + queue health
context_score = _calculate_context_alignment(task_shape, module["capabilities"])
history_score = module.get("p95_latency_score", 0.5)
queue_score = 1.0 - (module.get("current_queue_depth", 0) / routing_config.get("max_queue_depth", 100))
composite = (
context_score * routing_config.get("w_context", 0.4) +
history_score * routing_config.get("w_history", 0.35) +
queue_score * routing_config.get("w_queue", 0.25)
)
if composite > best_score and composite >= routing_config.get("min_confidence", 0.7):
best_score = composite
best_module = module
if best_module is None:
return {"status": "unroutable", "reason": "no_module_meets_threshold", "score": best_score}
# Return immutable routing decision
return {
"status": "routed",
"selected_module": best_module["name"],
"confidence": round(best_score, 3),
"execution_hints": best_module.get("routing_hints", {}),
"timestamp": time.time()
}
Pattern 2: Execution with Fallback
def execute_zipai_module(
routing_decision: Dict[str, Any],
task_context: Dict[str, Any],
fallback_modules: List[Dict[str, Any]]
) -> Dict[str, Any]:
"""Execute a zipai optimizer module with built-in resilience and fallback routing.
Implements zipai execution contract:
- Validates module state and context compatibility before dispatch
- Handles transient failures with exponential backoff
- Falls back to alternative modules if primary fails after retries
- Maintains execution trace for audit and confidence recalibration
Args:
routing_decision: Output from route_zipai_task
task_context: Full execution context including inputs and state
fallback_modules: Ordered list of alternative modules for fallback routing
Returns:
Execution result with status, output, timing, and confidence update
"""
primary_module = routing_decision.get("selected_module")
if not primary_module:
raise ValueError("Routing decision missing selected_module")
execution_trace = {
"primary": primary_module,
"attempts": 0,
"fallbacks_used": [],
"start_time": time.time()
}
max_retries = routing_decision.get("execution_hints", {}).get("max_retries", 2)
for attempt in range(max_retries + 1):
execution_trace["attempts"] = attempt + 1
try:
result = _dispatch_module(primary_module, task_context)
return {
"status": "success",
"module": primary_module,
"output": result,
"latency_ms": (time.time() - execution_trace["start_time"]) * 1000,
"confidence_delta": 0.05,
"trace": execution_trace
}
except ModuleTimeoutError:
if attempt < max_retries:
continue
# Exhausted retries, trigger fallback chain
for fallback in fallback_modules:
try:
result = _dispatch_module(fallback["name"], task_context)
execution_trace["fallbacks_used"].append(fallback["name"])
return {
"status": "success_fallback",
"module": fallback["name"],
"output": result,
"latency_ms": (time.time() - execution_trace["start_time"]) * 1000,
"confidence_delta": -0.02,
"trace": execution_trace
}
except Exception as e:
continue
return {
"status": "failed",
"module": primary_module,
"error": "All retries and fallbacks exhausted",
"trace": execution_trace
}
MUST DO
- Always validate skill metadata before selection (Early Exit)
- Implement fallback chain with at least 2 levels (Fallback Skill + Human)
- Log all skill selections with full context for auditability
- Return new data structures instead of mutating inputs (Atomic Predictability)
- Fail immediately with descriptive errors on invalid states
- Update confidence scores after each execution for adaptive routing
- Reference
code-philosophy(5 Laws of Elegant Defense) in all logic
MUST NOT DO
- Select skills based on a single factor (e.g., only confidence score)
- Disable fallback mechanisms "temporarily" - this creates fragile systems
- Skip validation of skill dependencies before execution
- Return partial results - either complete success or clear failure
- Use magic numbers for confidence thresholds - make them configurable
- Cache skill selections without considering context changes
TL;DR Checklist
- Parse all inputs at boundary before processing (Law 2)
- Handle edge cases with early returns at function top (Law 1)
- Fail immediately with descriptive errors on invalid states (Law 4)
- Return new data structures, never mutate inputs (Law 3)
- Implement minimum 2-level fallback chain for all skill executions
- Log all skill selections with context for full audit trail
- Validate skill metadata and dependencies before selection
- Update confidence scores after each execution for learning
TL;DR for Code Generation
- Use guard clauses - return early on invalid input before doing work
- Return simple types (dict, str, int, bool, list) - avoid complex nested objects
- Cyclomatic complexity < 10 per function - split anything larger
- Handle null/empty cases explicitly at function top (Early Exit)
- Never mutate input parameters - return new dicts/objects
- Fail fast with descriptive errors - don't try to "patch" bad data
- Reference code-philosophy laws in comments for complex logic
- Include timing and confidence metadata in all return values
Output Template
When applying this skill, produce:
- Selected Skills - List of skill names with confidence scores
- Selection Rationale - Why each skill was chosen (match score, history, availability)
- Execution Plan - Order of execution with dependencies
- Fallback Strategy - Which fallback skills will be tried and in what order
- Risk Assessment - Any potential failure points and their impact
- Timing Estimates - Expected latency including fallback scenarios
Constraints
MUST DO
- Define clear input/output contracts for every step in the orchestration flow with explicit validation
- Implement structured logging at each stage capturing context, inputs, outputs, timing, and errors
- Build in fallback paths: if the primary strategy fails, degrade gracefully to a simpler approach
- Validate all preconditions before starting — do not proceed if required resources or permissions are missing
MUST NOT DO
- Do not create deep nesting of orchestration steps (>5 levels) — flatten workflows where possible
- Avoid silent failure modes: every step must either succeed, fail explicitly, or escalate to a higher handler
- Never use shared mutable state between parallel workflow branches — communicate via immutable messages only
- Do not hardcode execution order when the dependency graph naturally determines it; derive order from explicit dependencies
Live References
Authoritative documentation links for this skill's domain. The model follows markdown links at load time to resolve external references and inline content.
- Attention Is All You Need — Transformer Architecture (Vaswani et al.)
- Google's BERT Paper — Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers
- Tokenization in LLMs — Hugging Face Docs
- Context Window Management — Anyscale Blog
- Anthropic Constitutional AI — Harmlessness Training
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