Need token efficiency above all?
→ R5 (ReWOO): 5× reduction vs ReAct; plan all tool calls upfront
Need mid-run adaptation to observations?
→ R4 (ReAct): adaptive tool use; each action informs the next
Multi-tool task needing self-debugging?
→ R13 (CodeAct): ~20pp accuracy gain over JSON tool calls
Hard open-ended problem, quality trumps cost?
→ R9 (Tree of Thoughts) or R10 (LATS)
Clear pass/fail criteria and retries are acceptable?
→ R7 (Reflexion): verbal self-critique across retries
Math or numerical computation?
→ R14 (Program of Thoughts): delegate to a deterministic executor
Parallel generation needed to reduce latency?
→ R12 (Skeleton-of-Thought): outline first, fill sections in parallel
Reusable reasoning templates exist for this task type?
→ R11 (Buffer of Thoughts): 12% cost of ToT/GoT
Multi-hop factual question?
→ R6 (Self-Ask): sub-question chains
Quick reasoning improvement with no examples?
→ R1 (Zero-Shot CoT): "think step by step"