LOCKEDIN / FORWARD-DEPLOYED ENGINEERING 101
Understand it.
Then build it.
You can be an experienced engineer and still be new to agents. Start with what each thing is and how it helps a person do useful work. Explore 48 original introductions across software, agents, cloud, security and delivery. Start here without a model key; each topic connects to deeper instruction and practice.
- 101UnderstandPlain language, visual walkthrough, vocabulary
- 102Build with guidanceOriginal lessons, examples and knowledge checks
- 103Practise and explainRunnable labs, failure cases and handover
- 01Request
- 02Check and execute
- 03Respond
A software contract
What is an API?
An application programming interface (API) is an agreed way for one piece of software to use another. It specifies operations, inputs, outputs and errors. Some APIs are local functions; a web API exchanges requests and responses across a network.
An agent becomes useful through connections to business systems. Those connections need clear contracts and failure behavior.
CONNECT IT TO WHAT YOU KNOW
Start with something familiar.
It is like a typed function boundary between teams. You can ask for an operation without knowing the implementation behind it.
An API is an interface. A model can suggest an API call; your application must validate it, authorize it and actually execute it.
Words worth knowing
- Client
- The software making a request.
- Server
- The software handling it.
- Endpoint
- A network address and operation exposed by a service.
ONE EXAMPLE / FICTIONAL CASE
Watch the work take shape.
A maintenance assistant asks a service for the status of ticket T-104. It should receive only fields its caller may read.
- 01Request
- 02Check and execute
- 03Respond
Request
The client supplies the operation, ticket identifier and authentication material through the documented interface.
A request for T-104Follow one API request
Original silent explainer · Optional English captions
Read the visual transcript
- Request: a client asks for ticket T-104 through an agreed interface.
- Check: the server validates the input and authorizes this caller before accessing the record.
- Response: the server returns a documented result or error. A timeout means the result may be unknown.
FROM RECOGNITION TO REASONING
Write a tiny ticket lookup contract on paper.
- 01
Specify one allowed input and three returned fields.
- 02
Describe missing, unauthorized and unavailable outcomes.
- 03
State which fields an agent must never be allowed to choose, such as its own tenant identity.
A request/response example and three error cases, using invented identifiers.
Compare your reasoning when you are ready
A well-formed request can still be unauthorized. The server derives authority from trusted identity, while the model may supply a proposed ticket identifier.
Keep notes in your own working copy. Moving through these cards does not record completion.
TURN THE IDEA INTO USEFUL WORK
You can now go deeper.
An API is an interface. A model can suggest an API call; your application must validate it, authorize it and actually execute it.
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