11 Tips for building agentic systems
This chapter covers
- Field‑tested tips organized by the five agentic layers
- Role-specific guidance for a customer support agent
- Design patterns for a RAG agent system
- A blueprint for a Deep Research agent
As we are near the end of our journey into exploring agent development, we can move beyond the theoretical and tutorial sessions to introduce more practical tips. Tips and experiences obtained while building production-level agents and agentic systems in the trenches. Tips that can help you level up your agent development skills and see how real-world agents operate. By the end of this chapter, you should have a set of practical patterns and checklists you can apply when designing real-world agents and agentic systems.
11.1 Field-tested tips organized by the five agentic layers
Throughout this book, we have explored agents using the five functional layers of agents: persona, tools and actions, reasoning and planning, knowledge and memory, and evaluation and feedback. Figure 11.1 reminds us of what happens at each of these layers.
Figure 11.1 Highlights the five agent layers and for each layer the internal boxes represent the patterns that can help improve development of the respective layer.
Let’s go back through these layers now, looking at practical tips for each one.