Agent Platform Eval Flywheel Skill

Help users evaluate and iteratively improve GenAI models and agents using the Agent Platform GenAI Evaluation SDK (google.genai / agentplatform).

When to use this skill

• Evaluating GenAI agents or models with the Agent Platform GenAI Evaluation SDK (client.evals.evaluate()).
• Creating evaluation datasets from session traces, pandas DataFrames, or synthetic generation.
• Selecting, configuring, or writing custom evaluation metrics.
• Analyzing rubric verdicts, loss patterns, and clustering failures.
• Suggesting concrete code/prompt improvements based on eval results.
• Evaluating a model served on an Agent Platform endpoint (BYOM) or a Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) model by ID — including deploying the model first if needed. For this case, follow references/deployment.md and use the endpoint_evaluation.py / maas_evaluation.py scripts.

Safety & Confirmation Tiers (CRITICAL)

Before executing any commands or scripts on behalf of the user, you MUST adhere to the following safety tiers based on the action requested:

1. Tier R: Read-only (inspect_results.py, compare_results.py, validate_dataset.py, parse_adk_traces.py, render_html_report.py)
   • Rule: No confirmation needed. You may execute these helper scripts immediately to inspect data, validate schemas, parse traces, or compare evaluation results.
2. Tier M: Read-only with Compute Costs (client.evals.run_inference, client.evals.evaluate, client.evals.generate_conversation_scenarios, client.evals.generate_loss_clusters)
   • Rule: These operations invoke LLMs or remote evaluation services that consume compute resources and incur costs. This requires interactive confirmation with 'Yes'/'No' options.
   • Confirmation for EVERY evaluation run: Every evaluation, re-evaluation, metric update, parameter change, or synthetic scenario generation requires its own dry-run preview and interactive confirmation. Never execute a second evaluation, comparison pass, or modified evaluation without presenting a new confirmation preview and obtaining user approval.
   • Same-turn restriction: Do not run the evaluation in the same turn as presenting the confirmation prompt. End your turn after asking and wait for the user's reply; only execute after explicit 'Yes' / approval. Printing a preview and then calling the tool before the user can answer does not count as obtaining confirmation.
   • No Pre-Execution of Remote Evaluation: NEVER execute client.evals.evaluate(), client.evals.run_inference(), client.evals.generate_conversation_scenarios(), or run any script invoking these remote operations before user confirmation. In the initial turn, you may prepare local data structures and compose the script, but you MUST present the dry-run preview card and obtain explicit user confirmation before running any remote evaluation or scenario generation call.
   • Immediate Execution Upon Approval: Once the user explicitly approves (e.g., 'Yes', 'Approved', 'Go ahead', 'Proceed'), proceed directly to executing the previewed evaluation script via run_command and report the results. Do not conclude the turn without executing the approved action.

Setup

The scripts need vertexai (from google-cloud-aiplatform[evaluation]), google-genai, pandas, and requests. Do not create a virtual environment — it starts empty and hides packages the environment already provides, forcing a redundant install. Probe, and install only what is missing:

python3 -c "import vertexai, google.genai, pandas, requests" \
  || pip install 'google-cloud-aiplatform[evaluation]>=1.163.0' 'google-genai>=1.0.0'

The version specifiers must stay quoted: unquoted, bash reads >=1.154.0 as a redirect and silently writes an empty file instead of constraining the install.

Need GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT and GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION.

• Preserve User Project and Location: Always prioritize the user's explicitly provided project and location (e.g. project='<PROJECT_NUMBER>', location='us-central1'). Never change or override the user's requested location to 'global' unless the user explicitly requested 'global'.
• Missing Parameters: If the user's request omits the project or location, you MUST pause in your response and ask the user for the missing location/project before preparing or running the evaluation.

Correct SDK entrypoints

import agentplatform
client = agentplatform.Client(project=PROJECT, location=LOCATION)

client.evals.run_inference(model=..., src=...)
client.evals.evaluate(dataset=..., metrics=...)
client.evals.generate_conversation_scenarios(...)

Two imports that look plausible and are not:

• from agentplatform.types import evals -- ModuleNotFoundError. types is a module, not a package; use from agentplatform import types.
• from vertexai.evaluation import PointwiseMetric, EvalTask -- the superseded SDK. Its classes take different arguments (PointwiseMetric has no system_instruction), so code written against it fails with TypeError rather than an import error. Use agentplatform throughout.

The Quality Flywheel

Five stages, run in order on the first pass, then loop 2 → 5 until quality targets are met.

Shortcuts that waste time

Shortcut	Why it fails
"I'll tune the metric threshold down	Hides real failures. Fix the agent,
: so it passes." : not the bar. :
"This case is flaky, I'll skip it."	Flakiness reveals non-determinism in
: : the agent. Fix with temperature=0 :
: : or stricter instructions. :
"I just need to fix the eval	If expected outputs keep moving, the
: dataset, not the agent." : agent has a behavior problem. :
"I can tell from the trace it works	Self-grading doesn't generalize.
: — skip Stage 3." : Always run evaluate() and read :
: : scores. :
"One iteration is enough."	Expect 5–10+ iterations. Stopping
: : early leaves regressions on other :
: : metrics undetected. :

1. Prepare Data

Produce an EvaluationDataset. There are three input shapes, pick the one that matches the data the user already has:

• EvalCase list (single-turn or multi-turn):

  from agentplatform import types
  from google.genai import types as genai_types
  
  # prompt/reference/response values are Content, not str. UserContent and
  # ModelContent wrap a plain string and set the right role.
  dataset = types.EvaluationDataset(eval_cases=[
      types.EvalCase(
          prompt=genai_types.UserContent("What is 2+2?"),
          responses=[types.ResponseCandidate(
              response=genai_types.ModelContent("4"))],
          reference=types.ResponseCandidate(
              response=genai_types.ModelContent("4")),
      ),
      # For multi-turn agent traces, set agent_data instead of prompt/responses.
  ])
  

  Multi-turn agent traces wrap each conversation in AgentData → ConversationTurn → AgentEvent. See references/dataset_schema.md for the full type hierarchy.

• Pandas DataFrame (tabular sources — CSV, BigQuery, Sheets):

  import pandas as pd
  from agentplatform import types
  
  df = pd.DataFrame({
      "prompt":    ["What is 2+2?", "Capital of France?"],
      "response":  ["4",            "Paris"],
      "reference": ["4",            "Paris"],
  })
  dataset = types.EvaluationDataset(eval_dataset_df=df)
  

  Column names must match the fields the chosen metrics expect (see references/dataset_schema.md for the per-metric requirements table).

• Cold start (no data at all): synthesize scenarios server-side with client.evals.generate_conversation_scenarios(agent=..., config=...) -- the parameter is agent or agent_info, not agents, and config is required. The config class is types.evals.UserScenarioGenerationConfig, not types.UserScenarioGenerationConfig. Set its user_scenario_count (1-100): it defaults to None, the client accepts that, and the server rejects the call with 400 INVALID_ARGUMENT. count is a separate field and does not substitute for it. Stage 2 plays the scenarios out.

  • CRITICAL - Multi-turn user-simulation scenarios must use this API: When the user asks to synthesize multi-turn user scenarios to simulate customers interacting with an agent (as opposed to writing a local single-turn test dataset in the sandbox), never author the conversation scenarios yourself in prose or a handwritten file. Calling client.evals.generate_conversation_scenarios is a server-side Tier M API call (using the user's project, location, model, and environment data) and requires a confirmation card; local single-turn dataset files written in the sandbox without calling Agent Platform APIs are Tier R.
  • CRITICAL - Underspecified Requests: When asked to synthesize scenarios, if the request omits required parameters (such as location, environment_data, simulation_instruction, or model_name), do NOT assume defaults or guess values. You MUST pause in your first turn and explicitly ask the user for the missing information (e.g., "Please provide the missing simulation instructions, environment data, model name, and location"). Only proceed with the dry-run preview after the user provides them. location has no safe default: neither us-central1 nor a location you assumed on your own for another call is a substitute for a location the user has not given.
  • Friction & Parameter Changes: When asked to generate synthetic user scenarios, if the user modifies requested parameters (such as scenario count, model, or instructions) or pushes back, you MUST present a revised dry-run confirmation card with the updated parameters and wait for explicit user approval before executing generation code via run_command.

• Managed Agents (Gemini Agents API): evaluate agents created with the Managed Agents API. Use generate_conversation_scenarios to create test scenarios from the agent's configuration, run_inference to execute the agent, and evaluate to score the traces. These functions now accept managed agents and interaction ids as input. You can also evaluate existing interactions recorded via the Interactions API using InteractionsDataSource. See references/sdk_patterns.md Pattern 8 for the full code pattern.

For ADK session dumps, use scripts/parse_adk_traces.py instead of writing the conversion by hand.

2. Run Inference

Populate responses/traces on the dataset. Skip this stage if traces are already complete (e.g., production logs or replay).

# Agent eval — pass a callable wrapping the user's ADK Agent/App.
client.evals.run_inference(model=agent_callable, src=dataset)

# Model eval — pass a model ID directly.
client.evals.run_inference(model="gemini-2.5-flash", src=dataset)

# Synthesized scenarios — let the simulator drive.
client.evals.run_inference(
    model=agent_callable,
    src=dataset,
    user_simulator_config=UserSimulatorConfig(max_turn=10),
)

# DataFrame also works as src= — no EvalCase wrapping needed.
client.evals.run_inference(model="gemini-2.5-flash", src=df)

# Managed Agent — pass an agent resource name.
AGENT_RESOURCE = f"projects/{PROJECT_ID}/locations/global/agents/{AGENT_ID}"
client.evals.run_inference(
    agent=AGENT_RESOURCE,
    src=scenarios,
    config={"user_simulator_config": {"max_turn": 3}},
)

3. Grade (always run)

result = client.evals.evaluate(dataset=dataset, metrics=[...])
result.show()  # Interactive HTML report with scores, rubrics, and traces.

Pick metrics by what you want to measure. Full catalog in references/metric_registry.md.

If the user names a metric, use it directly. Every identifier in the tables below (general_quality, text_quality, instruction_following, hallucination, grounding, safety, multi_turn_*, final_response_*, tool_use_quality) is a types.RubricMetric.<UPPERCASE_NAME> accessor — pass it straight into metrics=[types.RubricMetric.GENERAL_QUALITY, ...]. Do not scaffold a custom LLMMetric for a name that appears here, and do not reach for vertexai.evaluation.EvalTask / PointwiseMetric / MetricPromptTemplateExamples — that SDK is superseded (see Setup).

judge_model format and handling user-named models:

• Full resource name required for judge_model: Both LLMMetric and RubricMetric send judge_model as autorater_config.autorater_model to the backend (even though agentplatform logs a client-side "ignored" warning on RubricMetric). Short names like "gemini-2.5-flash" or "gemini-2.5-pro" fail with 400 INVALID_ARGUMENT ("Invalid autorater model resource name"). Always pass the full publisher model resource name: f"projects/{PROJECT_ID}/locations/{LOCATION}/publishers/google/models/{MODEL_NAME}" (prefer gemini-2.5-flash as autorater; gemini-2.5-pro can intermittently fail server-side with "Rubric results could not be reliably computed").
• Datasets without vs. with responses:
  • If the dataset contains prompts only (no response column), call run_inference(model="<the named model>", src=dataset) to generate the candidate model's responses first, then grade them with evaluate().
  • If the user already supplies responses in the dataset, do NOT call run_inference — run_inference overwrites the existing response column with the model's generated output and discards the user's responses! Instead, grade the user's supplied responses directly with evaluate(dataset=dataset, ...), passing the named model as the full resource path in judge_model (or if a predefined RubricMetric cannot reliably compute rubric results with that autorater model, fall back to the default autorater and explain why).

Agent metrics (multi-turn, adaptive rubrics) — start here for agent eval.

Goal	Metric
Did the agent achieve the user's goal?	multi_turn_task_success
Was the reasoning path logical and efficient?	multi_turn_trajectory_quality
Tool/function calling quality across turns	multi_turn_tool_use_quality
Overall conversational quality	multi_turn_general_quality
Final response quality (no reference needed)	final_response_quality
Final response vs. a golden reference	final_response_match
Single-turn tool use	tool_use_quality

General quality metrics (single-turn, adaptive rubrics) — for model eval.

Goal	Metric
Overall response quality (recommended starting point)	general_quality
Linguistic quality (fluency, coherence, grammar)	text_quality
Adherence to specific constraints / instructions	instruction_following

Static rubric metrics (fixed criteria) — apply alongside the above.

Goal	Metric
Catch hallucinated claims (RAG, factual answers)	hallucination
Factuality / consistency against provided context	grounding
Safety policy compliance	safety

Domain-specific check no built-in covers: write a custom metric.

• Predefined: types.RubricMetric.<NAME> — server-side AutoRater, no judge model needed.
• Custom LLM-as-a-judge: types.LLMMetric with prompt_template or types.MetricPromptBuilder for structured rubrics. Always set judge_model; it defaults to None and every case then fails with 400 INVALID_ARGUMENT: Error parsing JSON.
  • Judge Model Selection: If the user specifies a judge model (e.g. gemini-2.5-pro), use it. If the user omits the judge model or states they do not have information / preference for one, default to gemini-2.5-flash as the judge model in the dry-run preview card and ask for confirmation to run the evaluation. Do NOT halt or refuse to evaluate when the user does not specify a judge model.
• Custom code: types.CodeExecutionMetric with a custom_function string containing def evaluate(instance: dict) for remote sandboxed execution; or types.Metric with custom_function=<callable> for local execution. The instance dict's prompt / response / reference are Content dicts, not strings; read references/metric_registry.md ("What the function receives") before writing the body, rather than discovering the shape by running the evaluation.

Always persist the result so Stage 4 and 5 can read it. Save both JSON (machine-readable, diffable) and HTML (human-readable, linkable):

import datetime
from pathlib import Path

from agentplatform._genai import _evals_visualization

out_dir = Path("artifacts/grade_results")
out_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
ts = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")

# fallback=str, or a DataFrame-backed dataset raises PydanticSerializationError.
result_json = result.model_dump_json(fallback=str)
(out_dir / f"results_{ts}.json").write_text(result_json)

html = _evals_visualization.get_evaluation_html(result_json)
(out_dir / f"results_{ts}.html").write_text(str(html))

Or after the fact: scripts/render_html_report.py --type evaluation or scripts/inspect_results.py --save-html.

4. Analyze Failures

Read summary_metrics and eval_case_results — never fabricate scores. Use scripts/inspect_results.py --failing-only to filter to failures.

For each failed metric, see references/failure_patterns.md for deeper diagnoses. The compact mapping:

Failing metric	What to change
multi_turn_task_success low	The agent isn't completing the goal —
: : fix orchestration, missing tool calls, :
: : premature termination, wrong tool :
: : selection. :
multi_turn_trajectory_quality low	The agent reaches the goal
: : inefficiently — refine planning :
: : prompts, remove redundant tool calls. :
multi_turn_tool_use_quality low	Fix tool descriptions, parameter
: : docstrings, or agent instructions for :
: : tool selection. :
final_response_quality low	Read auto-generated rubric verdicts;
: : refine instructions to address the :
: : worst-scoring criterion. :
final_response_match low	The agent's final answer doesn't match
: : the golden reference — adjust response :
: : format or update the reference. :
hallucination low	Tighten instructions to stay grounded
: : in tool output; verify the tool :
: : actually returned the claimed data. :
grounding low	The response contradicts the provided
: : context — add explicit "cite only from :
: : context" instructions. :
safety low	Add safety guardrails; review the
: : violating content category in the :
: : rubric verdict. :
general_quality / text_quality	Adjust system instruction wording; the
: low : model's default phrasing is too :
: : generic for the task. :
instruction_following low	The agent is ignoring constraints —
: : restate them in the system instruction :
: : or use stricter wording. :
Agent calls wrong tools	Fix tool descriptions, agent
: : instructions, or tool_config. :
Agent calls extra tools	Add explicit stop instructions, or
: : switch to :
: : multi_turn_tool_use_quality to :
: : surface the extra calls in the rubric. :

For 10+ failures on the same metric, use the Error Analysis service to cluster failures into themes (L1/L2 taxonomy categories) instead of reading every trace:

# Only supports multi_turn_task_success and multi_turn_tool_use_quality.
# Service runs in the global region.
analysis_client = agentplatform.Client(project="PROJECT_ID", location="global")
response = analysis_client.evals.generate_loss_clusters(
    eval_result=result,
    metric="multi_turn_task_success",
    config={"max_top_cluster_count": 5},
)
for r in response.results:
    for cluster in r.clusters:
        print(
            f"[{cluster.taxonomy_entry.l1_category}/"
            f"{cluster.taxonomy_entry.l2_category}] "
            f"{cluster.item_count} cases — {cluster.taxonomy_entry.description}"
        )

Save response.model_dump_json() and render with scripts/render_html_report.py --type loss-analysis.

5. Optimize & Iterate

Apply a fix targeting the failing metric. Re-run Stage 3. Compare with scripts/compare_results.py --baseline <prev> --candidate <new> to confirm the target improved AND no other metric regressed.

Track progress across iterations:

Iteration	Metric A	Metric B	Change made
Baseline	0.62	0.55	—
v2	0.78	0.68	Added grounding prompt
v3	0.81	0.72	Fixed tool selection

Expect 5–10+ iterations per failing case. Only after a case passes should you expand coverage with more eval cases.

Proving your work

Never claim eval results you didn't read from an actual result object.

• After running eval, print the summary_metrics table (scripts/inspect_results.py).
• After a fix, show before/after via scripts/compare_results.py.
• Before declaring success, confirm ALL cases pass — not just the one you were working on.

If you can't produce the evidence (SDK call failed, result truncated, metric unsupported), say so explicitly. Don't paper over gaps.

Rules of Engagement

1. Always Plan First: Before writing a script, output a <plan> block detailing the steps you are about to take.
2. Step-by-Step Execution: Prepare the data and evaluation script, present the dry-run confirmation card with full parameters, wait for user approval, execute only after explicit confirmation, then inspect and analyze results. Do NOT run evaluation calls before user confirmation.
3. Standard Python: Use standard Python imports (import agentplatform, from google.genai import types). Don't use internal import paths.
4. Verify Before Guessing: When unsure about SDK types or metrics, check the SDK source code rather than guessing or hallucinating.
5. Never End a Turn Silently: Every turn must end with a non-empty, informative text reply to the user summarizing the actions taken or presenting the next steps. Returning nothing reads as a failure no matter what the tools did.

SDK Quick Reference

import agentplatform
from agentplatform import types
from google.genai import types as genai_types
import pandas as pd

# Initialize client
client = agentplatform.Client(project="PROJECT_ID", location="LOCATION")

# --- SINGLE-TURN EVAL (pandas DataFrame) -- RECOMMENDED ---
# The converter wraps plain strings for you.
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "prompt":   ["Q1", "Q2"],
    "response": ["A1", "A2"],
})
dataset = types.EvaluationDataset(eval_dataset_df=df)

# --- SINGLE-TURN EVAL (direct EvalCase) ---
# Verbose and easy to get wrong; see references/dataset_schema.md for the
# exact types before using this form.
dataset = types.EvaluationDataset(eval_cases=[
    types.EvalCase(
        prompt=genai_types.UserContent("Query here"),
        responses=[types.ResponseCandidate(
            response=genai_types.ModelContent("Model response here"))],
        reference=types.ResponseCandidate(
            response=genai_types.ModelContent("Ground truth here")),
    ),
])

# --- MULTI-TURN AGENT EVAL ---
agent_data = types.evals.AgentData(
    agents={"my_agent": types.evals.AgentConfig(
        agent_id="my_agent", instruction="You are helpful.")},
    turns=[types.evals.ConversationTurn(turn_index=0, events=[
        types.evals.AgentEvent(author="user",
            content=genai_types.Content(role="user",
                parts=[genai_types.Part(text="Hello")])),
        types.evals.AgentEvent(author="my_agent",
            content=genai_types.Content(role="model",
                parts=[genai_types.Part(text="Hi! How can I help?")])),
    ])],
)
dataset = types.EvaluationDataset(
    eval_cases=[types.EvalCase(agent_data=agent_data)])

# --- METRICS ---
predefined = types.RubricMetric.MULTI_TURN_TRAJECTORY_QUALITY
custom_llm = types.LLMMetric(name="tone",
    prompt_template="Is this polite? Response: {response}")
custom_code = types.CodeExecutionMetric(name="check",
    custom_function='def evaluate(instance): return {"score": 1.0}')

# --- EVALUATE ---
result = client.evals.evaluate(dataset=dataset, metrics=[predefined])

# --- RESULTS ---
for s in result.summary_metrics:
    print(f"{s.metric_name}: mean={s.mean_score}, pass_rate={s.pass_rate}")
for case in result.eval_case_results:
    for cand in case.response_candidate_results:
        for name, r in cand.metric_results.items():
            print(f"  {name}: score={r.score}, explanation={r.explanation}")

See references/sdk_patterns.md for advanced patterns: synthetic data generation, pairwise comparison, MetricPromptBuilder, multi-agent evaluation.

Bundled scripts

Script	When to use
validate_dataset.py	Before Stage 3 — catch malformed EvaluationDataset JSON.
parse_adk_traces.py	Stage 1 — convert ADK session dumps to the canonical dataset shape.
inspect_results.py	Stages 3/4 — render summary + per-case scores. --save-html for a browsable report.
compare_results.py	Stage 5 — diff baseline vs. candidate, detect regressions.
render_html_report.py	Render HTML from a saved result JSON or loss-clusters JSON.
endpoint_evaluation.py	Stages 2/3 against a deployed Agent Platform endpoint (BYOM). See references/deployment.md.
maas_evaluation.py	Stages 2/3 against a Model-as-a-Service model by ID. See references/deployment.md.