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Goals are the foundation of goal-driven agents in Aden. They define WHAT your agent should achieve, not HOW.
For the conceptual foundation behind goals and success criteria, see Outcome-Driven Development.

What is a Goal?

A Goal contains:
  • Success Criteria - Measurable conditions that define success
  • Constraints - Boundaries the agent must respect
  • Context - Additional information for decision-making

Defining Success Criteria

Success criteria are measurable conditions that determine if your agent succeeded.

Structure

Metric Types

Example

Defining Constraints

Constraints are boundaries your agent must respect during execution.

Constraint Types

Categories

  • time - Execution time limits
  • cost - Token/API cost limits
  • safety - Safety requirements
  • scope - What the agent should/shouldn’t do
  • quality - Quality requirements

Example

Complete Example

Here’s a complete goal for a research agent:

Best Practices

Do

  • Use specific, measurable success criteria
  • Include 3-5 success criteria with different weights
  • Define hard constraints for critical requirements
  • Add context to help the agent make better decisions

Don't

  • Use vague criteria like “do a good job”
  • Skip constraints entirely
  • Set all weights to 1.0 (use relative importance)
  • Forget to specify required capabilities

Next Steps

Node Types

Learn about LLM, Router, Function, and Human nodes

Edge Configuration

Configure success, failure, and conditional edges