Learning track · 17 concepts
Agent Systems
Agent loops, tools, memory, MCP, coordination, durable execution, permissions, computer use, and long-running work.
What mastery looks like
This track contains 17 connected concepts rather than an unordered reading list. Mastery means you can move from vocabulary to mechanisms, predict how the system behaves under pressure, and support a design decision with code, measurements, or a failure-recovery exercise. For Agent Systems, use the track description as the boundary: learn enough detail to reason clearly about agent loops, tools, memory, mcp, coordination, durable execution, permissions, computer use, and long-running work.
A useful explanation names the state involved, the operation that changes it, the resource or safety constraint, and the observable signal that tells you whether the mechanism works. Avoid stopping at product names. Compare at least two approaches, state what each optimizes, and identify what breaks first as scale, concurrency, latency, or uncertainty increases.
Suggested study sequence
Start with the core concepts at the top of the list and write a one-paragraph mechanism note for each. Continue through the core concepts by alternating explanation with an executable drill. Treat Agent Loops, Independent Agent Verification, Agent Run Lifecycle, Harness Evaluation as integration work: they should combine earlier mechanisms rather than introduce disconnected facts.
At the end of each session, record one decision you can now make, one failure mode you can now predict, and one unanswered question. Revisit that question through the linked primary sources, then prove the answer in the Playground or a real repository. The track is complete when you can transfer the reasoning to an unfamiliar system, not when every page has been opened.
Roadmaps
Concepts in this track
core
Tool Calling
Letting an LLM invoke functions/APIs via structured calls.
advanced
Agent Loops
The plan → act → observe loop, with memory and stopping conditions.
core
Agent Memory & Context Management
Working context, summaries, retrieval, episodic state, durable memory, compaction, provenance, and forgetting.
core
MCP & Integrations
Model Context Protocol hosts, clients, servers, tools, resources, prompts, transports, capability negotiation, and trust.
core
Multi-agent Coordination
Delegation, specialization, shared state, handoffs, arbitration, budgets, and avoiding coordination overhead.
core
Durable Agent Execution
Checkpointed loops, resumable tools, idempotency, leases, event histories, retries, and crash recovery.
core
Agent Permissions & Sandboxing
Capability grants, read/write scopes, approval gates, secret isolation, network policy, quotas, and audit logs.
core
Browser & Computer-use Agents
DOM and accessibility-tree control, screenshots, visual grounding, action planning, waits, recovery, and confirmation.
core
Agent Communication & Interfaces
Typed messages, events, artifacts, streaming updates, human checkpoints, agent-to-agent protocols, and UI status.
core
Long-running & Scheduled Agents
Cron triggers, queues, leases, heartbeats, deadlines, cancellation, checkpoints, notifications, and cost budgets.
core
Repository Instruction Topology
Repository-wide and path-local instructions, precedence, ownership boundaries, and concise executable guidance for coding agents.
core
Agent Environment Contracts
Deterministic bootstrap, dependency and runtime discovery, readiness probes, isolated workspaces, and explicit validation commands.
core
Agent Work State & Handoffs
Versioned goals, plans, checkpoints, evidence, blockers, and next actions that let a new session resume without relying on hidden conversational memory.
core
Agent Scope Control
Bounded task decomposition, allowed edit roots, budgets, change-size limits, and escalation when evidence invalidates the plan.
advanced
Independent Agent Verification
Maker-checker role separation, independent evidence gathering, adversarial review, and acceptance gates that do not trust the producer's self-report.
advanced
Agent Run Lifecycle
Run initialization, leases and heartbeats, progress transitions, budgets, completion evidence, cancellation, escalation, and safe termination.
advanced
Harness Evaluation
Task suites, outcome rubrics, trajectory metrics, cost and latency budgets, ablations, and regression gates for the harness rather than the model alone.