Graph engineering academy · module 5 of 7 · 10 min

Graphs in the real world

What do graphs look like in software development, research, support and security?

  • Recognise seven common graph shapes.
  • Say where each one waits for a person.
  • Pick the shape closest to your own workflow.

Seven graphs from seven kinds of work. Each one is runnable: pick it, press Run, change a branch or a person's answer. Notice where each waits for a human and which nodes may only read.

Automated software development

A change-request team

Ticket to triage; risky goes to plan, checkpoint and tech lead; routine goes straight to implement; implement to tests; tests pass to ship and done, fail loops back to implement.routineriskyapproverejectpassfailTicketTriagePlanCheckpointTech leadImplementTestsOpen PRDone

A ticket is triaged, planned, reviewed by a person when risky, implemented, tested and shipped.

Waits for The tech lead approves risky plans.

Research

A research pipeline

Question to planner; three parallel searches join at a merge; writer drafts; citation check; editor approves; publish.approverejectQuestionPlannerWeb searchPapersInternal docsJoinWriterEditorPublished

A question is split across three sources in parallel, the findings join, and a writer drafts with citations an editor checks.

Waits for An editor checks the draft before it is published.

Customer service

Customer service

Message to a guard, then a classifier; billing agent checks refund limit; over the limit goes to a support lead; technical agent uses the knowledge base; both reply.billingtechnicalwithin limitover limitapproveMessageInput checkClassifyBilling agentRefund limitSupport leadTechnical agentKnowledge baseReply

A message is classified; billing and technical go to specialists; refunds over a limit go to a person.

Waits for A support lead approves refunds over the limit.

Security

Security investigation

Alert fans out to log search and threat intel, joins at a merge, an investigator agent scores it; benign closes; contain goes to a checkpoint, the analyst, then an isolate-host tool.benigncontainapproveAlertLog searchThreat intelJoinInvestigatorVerdictCheckpointOn-call analystIsolate hostClosed

An alert is enriched in parallel from logs and threat intel, scored, and any containment action waits for the on-call analyst.

Waits for The on-call analyst approves containment.

Testing

Test generation

Requirement to a test writer; run tests; a check asks whether the test failed on the old code; meaningful goes to QA, trivial loops back to the writer.meaningfultrivialapproveRequirementTest writerRun on old codeMeaningful?QA engineerMerged

Requirements become tests; each test must fail before the fix and pass after, or it loops back.

Waits for A QA engineer reviews the suite before merge.

Code review

Code review

A diff fans out to security, correctness and style reviewers, joins, a deduplicating agent writes comments, and the author decides.approveDiffSecurity reviewCorrectness reviewConventionsJoinDeduplicateAuthorComments posted

A diff is reviewed by three specialists at once; findings are deduplicated; the author decides.

Waits for The author accepts or dismisses each finding.

Release

Release management

Release candidate to checks, an agent drafts notes, a checkpoint, the release manager approves, canary deploy, health check promotes or rolls back.approvehealthyunhealthyRelease candidateChecksDraft notesCheckpointRelease managerCanary deployHealthPromotedRoll back

Checks run, notes are drafted, the release manager approves, a canary deploys, a health check promotes or rolls back.

Waits for The release manager approves the go.

Run them

Learning simulation
Question to planner; three parallel searches join at a merge; writer drafts; citation check; editor approves; publish.approverejectrejectQuestionPlannerWeb searchPapersInternal docsJoinWriterEditorPublished

18 steps ready4 model calls · 3 human · 0 failures · 0 recoveries

Press Run to execute the graph as drawn. Change a branch, a reviewer’s answer or a failure below and run again: the trace changes because the graph does.

Introduce a failure