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The Critic-Actor Pattern
6.1Adversarial Quality Through Separation of ConcernsThe Critic-Actor pattern separates test generation from test review. One agent (the Actor) generates tests. Another agent (the Critic)…6.2ArchitectureThe flow: 1. Actor generates tests from the specification 2. Critic reviews each test against the specification 3. Critic returns feedback…6.3Implementation6.4The Critic's Review PromptThe Critic is the quality engine. Its prompt must be rigorous and specific:6.5The Actor's Revision PromptWhen the Critic returns REVISE feedback, the Actor receives targeted instructions:6.6Multi-Round ConvergenceThe Critic-Actor loop typically converges in 2-3 rounds:6.7Quality BenchmarksIn benchmarks, critic-actor pipelines produce measurably better tests:6.8Variant: The Three-Agent PipelineFor even higher quality, add a third agent -- the Specifications Analyst:6.9The Critic Role in the Wild (as of July 2026)The critic is no longer just an internal design pattern -- it is a product category:6.10When to Use the Critic-Actor PatternBest for: - When test quality matters more than speed - Critical paths (authentication, payments, data integrity) - Regulated environments…6.11Key TakeawayThe Critic-Actor pattern produces the highest-quality AI-generated tests by separating generation from evaluation. The Critic catches…