Understand AI agents
What the word actually means, which patterns hold up under load, and why most agent demos never make it to production.
1. What it means →
2. What works →
3. Build one
Read this, in order
- 1 Building effective agents Anthropic · Article The clearest thing written on this. Note how much of it argues for simpler designs.
- 2 A practical guide to building agents OpenAI · PDF The end-to-end version, with the operational parts people skip.
- 3 Agents Companion Google · PDF Denser. Read it once you have built something and have real questions.
- 4 Principles of Building AI Agents Mastra · Book Book-length architecture, if the articles left you wanting more.
One email a week
New guides, things worth reading, and the occasional correction when something here turns out to be wrong. Unsubscribe in one click.
You're in. Check your inbox for the confirmation link.