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Event title

Build, Evaluate & Secure an AI Agent

Shorter alternatives: Build Your First AI Agent from Scratch, Break and Secure an AI Agent

Event description

AI agents are everywhere, but what is actually going on inside one? And how do you know it works, or that it can't be tricked into doing something it shouldn't?

In this hands-on workshop, you'll build an AI agent from scratch in Python, without a framework, so you understand every moving part. Then you'll write evaluations to measure how well it really works, play a capture-the-flag game to break it, and add the defenses that hold up.

You'll learn how to:
- Call a language model with plain HTTP and give it tools
- Write the agent loop that powers every AI agent framework
- Test AI output with automatic checks and an LLM judge
- Exploit prompt injection, data leakage and tool misuse
- Defend an agent with layered security, and prove it with tests

The workshop is vendor neutral. It runs on your own laptop with a free, open model, so you don't need an account or API key with any AI provider. If you prefer, you can use any cloud provider instead.

What to bring: a laptop with 8 GB of RAM or more and Python 3.10 or newer. Some Python experience helps. No AI experience needed.

Maintained by Stephen Simon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/codewithsimon/ | https://x.com/codewithsimon

Short description

For platforms with a character limit.

Build an AI agent from scratch, measure it with evals, then break it and make it secure. A hands-on, vendor-neutral workshop. Bring a laptop with Python. No AI experience or API keys needed.

Ever wondered what's really inside an AI agent?

Join this hands-on workshop. You'll build an agent from scratch, test it, then try to hack it in a capture-the-flag game and lock it down.

Vendor neutral, runs on your own laptop, no API keys needed.

Reminder email for attendees

Send this about a week before the event.

Subject: Get ready for the AI agent workshop

Hi everyone,

We're looking forward to building, testing and hacking an AI agent with you!

To make the most of our time together, please set up your laptop before the event. It takes about 15 minutes, and the model download is around 2.5 GB, which is much faster at home than on shared venue wifi.

Setup guide: https://codewithsimon.github.io/ai-agent-workshop/workshop/setup/

When you're done, run this command from the code folder:

    python -m agentlab.check

If it says "You're ready for the workshop!", you're all set. If something goes wrong, don't worry. Reply to this email, or bring your laptop a little early and we'll help you.

What to bring:
- A laptop with 8 GB of RAM or more, and its charger
- Python 3.10 or newer

See you there!