Inference Engineering for Agents: Spend Compute where it Helps

To optimize AI agents, developers should practice "inference engineering" by focusing on the cost per completed task rather than simple per-token pricing. The article recommends allocating reasoning tokens based on task difficulty and using a tiered routing system that matches query complexity to the most efficient model—from small, fast models for mechanical tasks to frontier models for complex reasoning. This multi-layered approach allows builders to maximize accuracy and utility while significantly reducing total compute costs.