LLMs in production don't often crash spectacularly. Instead, they introduce subtle, probabilistic errors—like incorrect enum values or missing fields—that are hard to debug because they lack clear error patterns, unlike deterministic code failures.
Don't give LLMs full control. Use deterministic code for core logic, validation, and enforcing rules. Delegate only tasks requiring flexibility or understanding of unstructured input to the LLM, treating it as a specialized component, not the entire system.
An 'LLM-first' approach, where the model handles core logic, creates impressive demos but lacks production reliability. A 'code-first' approach, using code for structure and LLMs for specific tasks, is less flashy but proves robust and debuggable in real-world applications.