The instant invention relates to systems of reagents and methods for the detection of chemical and biological targets in a sample. Some embodiments comprise methods for automatically selecting a set of reagents to detect one or more targets in a sample, wherein the set of reagents comprises at least two layers for detection of a first target, and at least two layers for detection of a second target, wherein the set comprises reagents that are at least partially redundant. In some embodiments, the redundancy is created by at least one degenerate reagent such that the reagent may interact specifically with more than one other component of a detection system or sample. In some embodiments, the system or method also includes reagent containers with a computer-generated code which may further serve to match targets to appropriate reagents.