How agent outputs compound (or don't)

Most agent outputs land in two places: the terminal and a markdown file. Both are readable by a human. Neither is queryable by the next agent.

The pattern worth knowing: write outputs to JSON lines, not prose. One JSON object per run, appended to a file. The next agent reads the last ten rows and makes a decision without parsing paragraphs.

A concrete version: a skill that checks content quality writes a row with the score and any violations. The skill that runs next session reads that row and knows whether to alert or skip. No markdown parsing. Just a tail and a pattern match on score.

The difference between an agent that informs and one that compounds is the shape of its output.

What format are you using when one agent needs to hand state to the next?

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