Section guide
Agent Runtime Foundations
Runtime primitives every agentic system depends on: single agents, loops, state, tools, and structured outputs.
Use when you need the basic runtime building blocks of any agentic system.
Leave able to describe the loop, state, tool, and output contracts behind an agent.
A runtime contract for goals, state, tools, outputs, context, and stop conditions.
Reading order
5 chapters- 01 Single Agent Pattern · Beginner 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Student
A single agent receives a goal or message, consults its context, and produces an answer or action. This is the smallest useful unit in the catalog.
- 02 Agent Loop Pattern · Beginner 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Student
The agent loop turns a model call into an agent: observe state, decide the next action, act, evaluate the result, and stop when the goal is complete or a limit is reached.
- 03 Goals and State Pattern · Beginner 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Student
Goals define success; state records progress. Together they make agent work resumable, inspectable, and easier to evaluate.
- 04 Tool Use Pattern · Beginner 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Student
Tool use gives an agent controlled access to external capability such as calculators, search, databases, files, code execution, APIs, or business systems.
- 05 Structured Output Pattern · Beginner 12-25 min pattern review Builder · Student
Structured output constrains model responses to typed data that software can validate and consume.