# Why AI agents are repeating microservices' mistakes, and how to avoid them

> Original title: Why AI Agents Are Repeating 2019’s Microservices Mistake

- Source: O'Reilly Radar
- Published: 2026-11-09T11:55:04.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/wgz04xz6qiww75q7agnj8yvxm
- Original: https://www.oreilly.com/radar/why-ai-agents-are-repeating-2019s-microservices-mistake/

## Summary

The author, who says they were on the design doc for a three-agent workflow, reports that the system's output quality declined slowly and that it took about three weeks to trace the cause to a dropped field. The article argues that multi-agent systems face the same visibility problems that microservices created in 2019, and it recommends an agent registry, end-to-end tracing with OpenTelemetry's GenAI conventions, and contract tests for prompt changes.