Tune agents by adjusting inputs and guardrails, not by micromanaging outputs. Set a sane daily budget, keep high-value touches in review, watch the timeline, and make one change at a time so you can tell what moved the numbers.
Budget conservatively at first
Start a new agent at a low daily account budget (around 20) so you can review its behavior before it scales. Once the drafts and targeting look right, raise the budget. Budgeting by tier — small for high-personalization A-tier, larger for volume B/C-tier — keeps quality and reach in balance.
Tune inputs before outputs
If outreach is off, the fix is usually upstream: a sharper ICP, better signals, or richer context — not editing individual emails. Adjust the rubric and the agent's context, and the outputs improve across the board rather than one at a time.
Use review as a tuning loop
Held-for-review drafts (see Review and approve agent drafts) are your best tuning signal. Read a batch, note what you keep editing, and encode those edits as guardrails or context updates. Over a couple of weeks the edit rate should fall.
Change one thing at a time
Resist changing the ICP, the sequence, and the budget in the same week — you won't know what worked. Make one change, give it enough volume to read, then decide. Agent tuning is iterative and rewards patience.
