Waterfall or Agent — choosing the right mode
The test is simple: if your need reads "given X, return field Y", use waterfall. If it reads "judge whether this company meets a condition", use the agent. The first returns synchronously in milliseconds to seconds; the second runs async and returns a sourced conclusion.
When to use waterfall
- Bulk-backfilling CRM fields such as email, phone or company size.
- A user is waiting on screen and latency matters.
- Fields and success criteria can be defined up front.
Waterfall has two strategies. first_match stops at the first hit and costs least; aggregate runs every source and merges results for maximum coverage at higher cost. Use first_match for routine enrichment and aggregate for key accounts.
When to use the agent
- The filter is natural language — "has an overseas warehouse and recently expanded a production line".
- The answer needs cross-source verification before a verdict.
- A minutes-scale async result is acceptable.
Combining both
The cheapest pattern is a coarse-to-fine funnel: waterfall filters the bulk list, then the agent deep-dives only what survives. That typically keeps agent calls under 5% of total volume without giving up judgement quality.
Try it yourself
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