welcome

First, please excuse the incompleteness of these chapters, especially the missing figures, which I am still working on. We wanted to get this book out to the public as soon as possible, because we think these design patterns could be very useful in this very moment. As we introduce more chapters to the MEAP, we will also update earlier ones, with figures, and all!

While usage patterns were the main source of inspiration for this book, this work is grounded in a much deeper understanding of how we build software backed by AI models. Design patterns, or rather, the abstractions and ideas that they capture, are inherent to each technology and each set of problems the technology addresses. Think of every agent as a piece of fabric covering a complex diorama. It helps to study how different fabrics cover the underlying features, but it is ultimately the landscape of the diorama that dictates the shape of the fabric. As such, the patterns described here are not a mere result of “stamp collecting,” but emerge from investigation into the underlying nature of the technology that agents sit on top of: systems backed by AI models. As we work our way through this book, we explore the necessary steps and considerations for creating effective software with this technology. And we look at patterns that strike at the very heart of key agent characteristics, including accuracy, cost, reliability, and interpretability.