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// Learning path

Build your first AI agent

Go from "what even is an agent?" to a small, tested one you could hand to someone else. Five short lessons, one working project, no accounts needed beyond an API key.

  • 5 lessons
  • 2 h 35 min
  • Level: Beginner
Start the path

Free · no account

// About this path

What this path is

This path takes you from the idea of an agent to a small one you built, tested and put limits around. Each lesson is a normal playbook guide, so you can read any of them on its own, but they build on one another in order.

You will write about sixty lines of code in total, in TypeScript or Python. Plan on two to three hours, in as many sittings as you like: progress is saved in this browser.

// By the end

You will be able to do this.

  • Explain what makes something an agent, and when you do not need one
  • Set up a project that talks to a model from your own machine
  • Build a working tool-using agent in about sixty lines
  • Test it with real examples and fix what fails
  • Put sensible limits around it before anyone else uses it

// Before you start

What you need first

  • Comfortable reading TypeScript or Python
  • A terminal and a code editor
  • An API key from a model provider

// Is it for you

Who this is for

  • Developers who have used an AI chat but never built with the API
  • Anyone who wants to understand agents by building a small one

// Curriculum

5 lessons, in order

2 h 35 min in total

Foundations

2 lessons · 40 min

  1. Lesson 1. What an AI agent is, and when you need oneThe idea behind every agent in one picture: a model, a loop and a few tools. Learn how to tell when you need one, and when a plain prompt does the job better.Beginner · 15 min
  2. Lesson 2. Set up your workspace and make your first callInstall what you need, keep your API key out of your code, and send a first message to a model from your own machine. About twenty minutes, and every later lesson builds on it.Beginner · 25 min

Build and check it

2 lessons · 1 h 25 min

  1. Lesson 3. Build the first version: the agent loopWrite the whole agent in about sixty lines: a search tool, a loop that lets the model use it, and a step limit so it cannot run forever. TypeScript and Python versions.Intermediate · 45 min
  2. Lesson 4. Test your agent and fix what failsWrite down what "good" looks like, turn it into a small test file, and read the failures calmly. A habit that matters more than any prompt trick, and takes about forty minutes.Intermediate · 40 min

Ship it

1 lesson · 30 min

  1. Lesson 5. Put limits around it, then share itAdd the limits that make an agent safe to hand to someone else: a budget, timeouts, a gate on risky tools, and a plan for untrusted text. Ends with a checklist to run before you share anything.Intermediate · 30 min

// How it works

Good to know

Do I need an account?

No. There is nothing to sign up for. You read the lessons here, in order or on their own.

Can I read one lesson without doing the whole path?

Yes. Every lesson is a normal playbook guide with its own page. The path just puts them in a good order and keeps your place.

Is there a certificate?

Not yet. Certificates need accounts, and this site has none on purpose. When you finish the last lesson the path tells you so, and your progress stays on this page.

Your progress is saved in this browser only. It does not follow you to another device, and clearing your site data removes it. There is no account.

// Stuck on a lesson?

Ask the community.

A path gets you most of the way. For the rest, there are people in the caravan who have been there.

Join the communityAll learning paths