Agentic Developer Handbook Interactive learning

Java-first · Open source · One concept at a time

Agentic Developer Handbook

Understand agentic systems by building them.

From a single model call to a bounded agent runtime, one concept at a time, with an honest answer to "When should I not use this?"

Not an agent framework. Not a library catalog. Not a skill marketplace.

Start with Lab 01 → Try the Readiness Assessment

agentic-developer-handbook · launch
A 32-second silent tour: seven labs, one bounded agent runtime, and what is still on the roadmap.

The learning path

Eight runnable Java labs. Each adds one capability — and says when not to use it.

  1. Model
  2. Structured Output
  3. Tools
  4. Knowledge / RAG
  5. Memory
  6. Skills
  7. Agent Runtime
  8. MCP

Planned Evaluation · Observability · Security · Deployment — on the roadmap, not implemented yet.

Start here — three ways to use it

01 Learn

8 runnable Java labs

Start from a single model call and move step by step toward a bounded agent runtime. The labs, the Java code, and the documentation live in the repository.

Start with Lab 01 → All labs

02 Compose

Capstone 01

Bring together only the capabilities a realistic scenario actually needs, build it, and compare with one reference design that deliberately leaves capabilities out.

Try Capstone 01 →

03 Decide

Readiness Assessment

Work through your own use case and decide whether it needs an LLM, RAG, tools, memory, or an agent at all. Not a score — it exports an ASSESSMENT.md.

Try the assessment →

You probably don't need all of these.

The path is for learning, not a mandatory architecture: stop when the problem is solved. A single LLM call is not an agent. A database lookup does not become RAG because the application also calls a model. A local Java method does not need MCP.

Open source · Apache License 2.0

The repository is the source of truth.

  • The Java labs, the docs, and the roadmap live on GitHub — this site is an interactive layer over them.
  • Issues, corrections, learning feedback, and proposals happen there.
  • Your answers on this site stay in your browser: no backend, no accounts, no analytics, no cookies.

View the project on GitHub → How to contribute 

# clone and verify — no API key needed
git clone \
  https://github.com/cagridursun/agentic-developer-handbook.git
cd agentic-developer-handbook
./mvnw verify