---
id: "humanlayer-12-factor-agents"
title: "12-Factor Agents"
creator: "HumanLayer (Dex Horthy)"
creator_url: "https://github.com/humanlayer/12-factor-agents"
url: "https://github.com/humanlayer/12-factor-agents"
level: "advanced"
level_max: null
category: "agents"
subcategory: "agent-design-patterns"
region: "West"
license: "open"
license_scope: "linked-resource"
models: ["any"]
source_date: null
date_added: "2026-10-18"
---

[Agents and harnesses](/agents/index.md)

# 12-Factor Agents

by [HumanLayer (Dex Horthy)](https://github.com/humanlayer/12-factor-agents)

[Read the original →](https://github.com/humanlayer/12-factor-agents)

Principles for agents that hold up in production.

The repository collects engineering principles for keeping agent systems understandable and controllable in production. Compare those principles with your own application's state, execution and recovery boundaries.

Level: [Advanced](/levels/index.md#advanced)
Models: any
Category: [Agents and harnesses](/agents/index.md)
Tags: [production](/tags/production/index.md)
Source date: date not stated
Added: 2026-10-18
Last verified: 2026-10-18
Status: ok
Prerequisites: Production-agent engineering and code-level control flow assume prior implementation experience.
Subcategory: [agent design patterns](/agents/agent-design-patterns/index.md)
Region: West
Original language: en
Access: free
Resource reuse: open: Source states CC-BY-SA-4.0. Applies to the linked resource, not every referenced model or dataset. [Facet definitions](/about/index.md#facets)

Summary in our own words. Rights remain with the original creator. [Credit and correction policy](/about/index.md#credit-policy).

[Plain-text Markdown copy](/agents/agent-design-patterns/humanlayer-12-factor-agents/index.md)