Building Agents

Software-engineering principles for building agent applications (as opposed to using coding agents): when to use an agent, workflows, and memory.

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  • Not yet addressed from the September 2026 site review. Define building agent applications and distinguish from using coding agents.

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Yes, agents can be used for a lot of things (other than coding!). But, before using them, it is important to get a mental model of why using agents instead of simpler solutions:

What can agents do?Explainer
What is an Agent?Explainer
When to use an Agent?Explainer

With an idea of when to use agents, we move onto the how. How do we build agents?

WorkflowsExplainer
AgentsExplainer

We are still only at the very basics. There is still a lot more content to know about how to make agents more powerful:

Advanced Agentic EngineeringExplainer

Finally, we look at specific ways in which we can build Agentic systems for given use cases.

Second BrainWorked guide

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