Free course

Learn AI Agents & Automation

A free, vendor-neutral, 14-module course that teaches how to design, build, govern, and evaluate AI agent systems that do real work inside real businesses — not how to write better prompts.

New to prompting AI?

Start with Prompt & Context Engineering

A free 12-module prerequisite course on communicating with and getting reliable results from AI systems — the HPC-10 framework, prompting technique, and context design. Finish it and this course reads like a continuation.

Start that course first

Principles before products

Models, frameworks, and vendor APIs change every few months. The architecture of an agent changes far more slowly.

Nobody is excluded

Every significant concept is explained three times — in plain English, for a practitioner, and for an architect.

Business outcome, not novelty

Every module ties back to a real decision a business has to make, not a demo trick.

The Holistic Agent Canvas

A 20-element framework (HAC-20) for designing an agent's objective, permissions, tools, memory, and governance before it's built.

View the Canvas

The 14 modules

Certification path

Five levels, each defined by demonstrated competence, not hours attended.

Level 1

AI & Agent Foundations

Modules 1–3, plus Module 11

Level 2

Agent Practitioner

Modules 1–7, 9, 12

Level 3

Advanced Agent Builder

Modules 1–12

Level 4

Holistic Agent Architect

All 14 modules

Level 5

Governed Autonomy Specialist

All 14 modules + capstone

Questions

Is this course actually free?
Yes. All 14 modules, the Holistic Agent Canvas framework, and the certification path are free and self-paced — no account required to start reading.
Do I need to be technical to follow it?
No. Every significant concept is explained three times — in plain English, for a practitioner, and for an architect — so you can choose your depth per module.
What is the Holistic Agent Canvas?
A 20-element framework for designing an agent's objective, permissions, tools, memory, and governance before it's built. It has its own page at /course/canvas.