Smart vs Manual Routing

Decision

Use this guide when choosing smart vs manual routing. Neither option is universally superior; choose per workload and keep an escape path.

Choose Smart

Smart routing adapts among eligible paths and preserves route evidence; use it for variable workloads.

Choose Manual Routing

Manual routing pins model or provider choice; use it for certification, reproduction, or strict contracts.

Material tradeoffs

• Smart routing adds selection variability and needs evaluation.
• Manual routing adds application ownership for health, economics, and fallback.

Validate the choice

• Test both paths on the same representative set.
• Compare quality, latency, cost, security, and operability.
• Document the decision, evidence window, review date, and rollback.