Skip to main contentSkip to footer
Browse principles
Principle 2visibility

Ensure that background work remains perceptible

When the system is operating asynchronously or outside the user’s immediate focus, it should provide persistent and proportionate signals that work is continuing.

Key Facts

Cluster
visibility
Primary risk
The user cannot determine whether the task is active, delayed, blocked, or failed.
Related examples
6 library examples
Doctrine library
Internal doctrine reference
Why does this principle matter?

Users lose confidence when delegated activity becomes invisible. Trust in autonomous systems depends in part on the user’s ability to understand that progress is being made, even when they are not actively observing the process.

Provide lightweight but reliable status indicators.
Use ambient progress signals instead of relying exclusively on blocking states.
Enable users to leave and return without losing continuity.
Preserve task state across sessions where relevant.
What failure does this principle prevent?

The user cannot determine whether the task is active, delayed, blocked, or failed.

AI as interface embellishment: A conventional product is given a text input and labelled intelligent, without any meaningful change in operational model.
Simulated autonomy: The system appears autonomous in language or presentation but cannot act with meaningful independence.
Opaque execution: Work occurs in the background without adequate status, accountability, or recoverability.
How do I apply this in practice?

The implementation library contains inspectable, runnable examples that show this principle applied in real agentic product code. Study the source paths, library choices, and runtime assumptions — not just the pattern name.

Implementation example

Mem0 Cloud Quickstart

Runnable example (beginner) for script using mem0, mem0ai. (script · beginner)

Inspect implementation

Implementation example

Mem0 Oss Quickstart

Runnable example (beginner) for script using mem0, mem0ai. (script · beginner)

Inspect implementation

Implementation example

Email Example

Runnable example (intermediate) for script using mem0, python-dotenv. (script · intermediate)

Inspect implementation

Related examples