Chapter 1
What is an agent?
Define AI agents, distinguish them from chatbots and workflows, and learn the vocabulary used by the rest of the playbook.
Start with the learning path
Use the chapter grid to move from foundational agent vocabulary into hands-on MAF component shells. Chapter authors can add content inside each prepared section without changing the site chrome.
🤖 Curious how this playbook was built? See the interactive agent-orchestration wireframe →
Chapters
Chapter 2
Agentic patterns and the MAF map
Connect common agentic patterns to MAF's component families before introducing APIs.
Chapter 3
Agents and instructions
Create a Python MAF agent with a clear role, instructions, and model client boundary.
MAF components
- Agent
- instructions
- agent identity/name
- run invocation
Chapter 4
Chat clients, messages, and conversations
Understand how MAF separates agent behavior from provider chat clients, messages, and conversation state.
MAF components
- ChatClient
- FoundryChatClient
- providers
- messages
- conversations
- multi-turn state
Chapter 5
Tools and function calling
Add safe, well-scoped tools so an agent can act beyond text generation.
MAF components
- tools
- function calling
- tool schemas
- agent skills
Chapter 6
Workflows for sequential and concurrent orchestration
Model repeatable multi-step agent systems with workflow executors, edges, and sequential or concurrent paths.
MAF components
- workflows
- WorkflowBuilder
- executors
- edges
- sequential orchestration
- concurrent orchestration
Chapter 7
Handoff and group chat orchestration
Choose handoff and group collaboration patterns when one agent is not enough.
MAF components
- handoff orchestration
- group chat
- multi-agent collaboration
- routing
Chapter 8
Streaming, checkpointing, and human-in-the-loop
Make longer-running agent workflows observable, resumable, and controllable by people.
MAF components
- streaming
- checkpointing
- durability
- human-in-the-loop
- workflow events
Chapter 9
Middleware and observability
Add cross-cutting behavior and OpenTelemetry traces without burying operational concerns inside agent logic.
MAF components
- middleware
- request/response pipeline
- exception handling
- OpenTelemetry
- tracing
Chapter 10
Declarative agents, hosting, and DevUI
Understand how MAF projects move from local authored components toward YAML configuration, hosted execution, and interactive debugging.
MAF components
- declarative agents
- YAML configuration
- Foundry-hosted agents
- hosting overview
- A2A integration
- DevUI