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# Curriculum ​

## Module Overview ​

Module | Title | Hours | What You'll Learn
--- | --- | --- | ---
M1 | Foundations | 4-6 | What agents are, harness vs model, decision frameworks, trust
M2 | Architecture | 6-8 | Tools, loops, context, memory, skills, codebase patterns
M3 | Safety & Security | 5-7 | 6-level security ladder, hooks, verifier pattern, defense-in-depth
M4 | Orchestration | 7-9 | Multi-agent patterns, P-threads, delegation, P2P communication
M5 | Production | 5-7 | CI/CD, shadow deploys, observability, rollback, 5-tool stack
M6 | Economics | 4-6 | Model pricing, cascade routing, pass@k evals, cost optimization
M7 | Advanced | 5-7 | Autoresearch, meta-agents, beyond MCP, always-on agents
M8 | Capstone | 8-12 | Build a production-grade multi-agent system

Total: 44-62 hours, 65 lessons, 13 labs, 56 quizzes

## Module 1: Foundations (4-6 hours) ​

Lesson | Topic
--- | ---
1.1 | What Makes an Agent? — Karpathy thesis, Software 3.0
1.2 | The Harness vs The Model — 5 subsystems, 4 dimensions
1.3 | The Repository IS the Spec
1.4 | Decision Framework: "Should I use an agent for this?"
1.5 | The Agent Loop: Think, Act, Observe, Repeat
1.6 | Tool Calling Deep Dive
1.7 | Vibe Coding vs Agentic Engineering
1.8 | Do You Trust Your Agents? — Hotz critique, Schmidt strategic view
Lab | Your First Agent (single-tool)

## Module 2: Architecture (6-8 hours) ​

Lesson | Topic
--- | ---
2.1 | The Four Pillars: Tools, Loop, Context, Memory
2.2 | Tool Design Patterns: MCP, CLI, Script, Skills
2.3 | Agent Loop Variants: 5 levels
2.4 | Skills System Deep Dive: path-scoped, plugins, LSP
2.5 | Agent-Readable Workspace: init phase, feature lists
2.6 | Context Window Management
2.7 | Memory Patterns: mental models, scratch pads
2.8 | The Reasoning Parameter
2.9 | Codebase Architectures: 4 patterns
Labs | Multi-Tool Agent + Context-Aware Agent

## Module 3: Safety & Security (5-7 hours) ​

Lesson | Topic
--- | ---
3.1 | Prompt Injection (L0) + Why Bash Is the Problem
3.2 | The 6-Level Security Ladder
3.3 | The L3 Marque Break
3.4 | Damage Control: 3 access levels
3.5 | Hook Architecture: 13 lifecycle events
3.6 | The Verifier Pattern
3.7 | Defense-in-Depth Stacking
Labs | Whitelist Hook + Verifier Agent

## Module 4: Orchestration (7-9 hours) ​

Lesson | Topic
--- | ---
4.1 | Why One Agent Is Not Enough
4.2 | Orchestration Patterns: Dispatcher, Pipeline, P2P
4.3 | P-Threads: Parallel Agent Execution
4.4 | F-Threads: Fusion, N Agents One Winner
4.5 | Depth-2 Delegation
4.6 | Agent Experts That Remember
4.7 | Domain Locking
4.8 | TillDone Task Discipline
4.9 | Agent Chains
4.10 | P2P Communication + MCP Agent Mail
4.11 | Service Connectors
4.12 | Conversation Awareness
4.13 | CEO Board System
4.14 | UI Agents System
Labs | Agent Chain + Multi-Team Config

## Module 5: Production (5-7 hours) ​

Lesson | Topic
--- | ---
5.1 | What Production Means for Agents
5.2 | CI/CD for Agents
5.3 | The 5-Tool Production Stack
5.4 | The Agent Manager Role
5.5 | Shadow Deployments
5.6 | Rollback Strategies
5.7 | Observability + Cross-Provider Search
5.8 | Alerting and Monitoring
5.9 | Deployment Modes
5.10 | Cost Control
Labs | Observability SQLite + CI/CD Pipeline

## Module 6: Economics (4-6 hours) ​

Lesson | Topic
--- | ---
6.0 | The Compute Advantage Equation
6.1 | Tokenomics: 3 Levels
6.2 | LLM Pricing Landscape
6.3 | Cascade Routing
6.4 | Cost Per Session Math
6.5 | Agent Evaluation Metrics
6.6 | Automated Evaluation
6.7 | A/B Testing Agents
6.8 | Human Evaluation
Labs | Eval Harness + Cost Optimization

## Module 7: Advanced (5-7 hours) ​

Lesson | Topic
--- | ---
7.1 | Autoresearch: Self-Improving Agents
7.2 | Integrity: Keeping the Loop Honest
7.3 | Meta-Agents: Agents That Build Agents
7.4 | Beyond MCP: Choosing Tool Channels
7.5 | Mac Mini Agent: Physical Sandbox
7.6 | Always-On Agents
Labs | Autoresearch Loop + Meta-Agent

## Module 8: Capstone (8-12 hours) ​

Build a production-grade multi-agent system. Choose from:

- Brand Monitor — Multi-LLM brand mention tracking
- Code Review Pipeline — Plan, Build, Review, Verify
- Strategic Decision Board — 8-agent CEO board

## Reference Documents ​

- FIELD-MANUAL.md — Quick reference cheat sheet
- FEYNMAN.md — Core concepts in plain language
- DEBATE.md — The great agent debate (Armin vs George)
- COMPETITIVE-ANALYSIS.md — vs Anthropic, TAC, ClaudeFAST
- REFERENCE-STACK.md — Production architecture
- TOOL-REFERENCE.md — 5-tool CLI reference