<script data-pm-proxy="intercept"></script><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></title><description><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vWc5!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d4bf44f-a968-4a93-a129-4fb8a6ecf1e8_503x503.png</url><title>AI for Professionals</title><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 06:52:01 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Srilakshmi Chiluvuri]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[AI4Professionals@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[AI4Professionals@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[AI4Professionals@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[AI4Professionals@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Beyond AI: A Difficult Chapter and My Next Steps]]></title><description><![CDATA[Off-topic, but an important personal learning: Sometimes, unexpected life experiences interrupt our professional journey and teach us lessons no course or AI tool can.]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/beyond-ai-a-difficult-chapter-and</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/beyond-ai-a-difficult-chapter-and</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:59:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vWc5!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d4bf44f-a968-4a93-a129-4fb8a6ecf1e8_503x503.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Off-topic, but an important personal learning:</strong> Sometimes, unexpected life experiences interrupt our professional journey and teach us lessons no course or AI tool can. Over the past few months, I have been navigating a difficult situation that has affected my health, home, and ability to focus on work. I&#8217;m sharing this experience not as professional advice, but as a personal account of what I learned and the importance of awareness, documentation, and seeking the right expert support. After sharing this, I hope to slowly return to my AI learning journey and focus on the next steps ahead.</p><p>3 months back I called a deep cleaning service from a branded company for the entire house..</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>they did it well and I gave 5 star rating,then slowly I got to know from bathroom there is a strange unbrearable smell not going at all even after 3 days..the cleaning person told it will go in half an hr or so ..</p><p><br>I realised he used our bucket to mix that liquid ...the chemical n then not washed or not thrown but without informing..first of all in ad they shown electric cleaning...that guy when I asked if I have to provide a plug he said the washroom is not that bad to electric cleaning..</p><p><br>Then after sometime strange smell started coming i asked him what&#8217;s that he said he just used the company provided liquid it will go in sometime..<br>N that&#8217;s all thtbi had the information..</p><p><br>His team took a day to clean the house..i told no chemicals in the house just use plain water or i will provide venigar,baking soda or little vim if needed...<br>He said not needed..he will not use any spray..<br>Days later the smells not going ,i went to different city for another treatment and reaised smell is not going ..i realised that smells gone inside n got struck somewhere..since the burps also coming with similar smell i went for a dental cleaning..<br>I observed all fragrances like herbal plants including tulasi,ajwain lemongrass started giving n appearing to me bad smells in that different location...i realised my smells n tastes got distorted badly with that chemical though not used ...but a bucket or someother means from bathroom gone inside..my mouth ulcers had come on the second day of washroom cleaning..</p><p><br>I came back to Bangalore after a week..I was unable eat to lot many fruits and foods which i like before things started smelling n taste different..i went to allopathy,they gave a nasal solution but not much use..I went to ayurveda a month long treatment with many food precautions I did all that,n the problem appeared to be resolved...</p><p></p><p> next month I slowly realised somewhere in kitchen it started smelling again and got shocked to know a scrubber got struck up under washing machine used by that chemical deep cleaning collected later by regular helper on brooming n used for washing vessels..<br>It&#8217;s not stopped there..in the next week&#8217;s whatever(in the coming weeks)scrubber used for bathroom cleaning after we throw the maid helper took it from dustbin with a mistake of another family member..as that chemical does not appear in colour neither foam comes n the scrubber appear to be good though it holds an industrial chemical..</p><p><br>Helper cleaned a bigger locations of the house with that scrubbers..Realising this I put leave for office for 4 days started cleaning myself..n this again disturbed my smells,tastes similar to the past..I got fearful n scared for the amount of chemical for mere cleaning of cleaning of cleaning which is transformed from locations still disturbing..<br>I arranged helpers giving them glouses,masks changing for every other work..I do not know what all locations it got spreaded the moment we clean that surface ,it&#8217;s coming out to the air then on to the face...<br>My leave got extended for next week I kept all vessels,bigger snallers,washed 5 times n kept in sun light on terrace it&#8217;s all lot many efforts ..n the locations which we were cleaning not going off with the smells..on top I slowly realised its even contaminating just with touches...again one of my medical vessle again washed after an affected vessle wash ,now i used this washed vessel for water gargle n gone ..my throat started extremely bitter that we could never know such bitterness exists in the world..I went for treatment again which I have done a month ago..this time it&#8217;s nice t reduced because I am still in the middle of cleanings of the house daily...with this i threw all the vessels..</p><p></p><p>i observed she even washed a fridge,dining table, chimney ,while cleaning a new water filter we used an affected.mug n that&#8217;s the reason the water coming a bit bitter..what not ..I had to throw everything from kitchen new n old..</p><p>I have called the govt authority n complained that i am.not able to handle the poison,one of the police professional told he experiencing burning sensation of hands in the kitchen area(we were not cooking since 2 weeks before)..I told seal the house officially we will go to different house as my in laws members not supporting in the.matter,the officials understood clearly but they cannot seal the house n called my spouse n suggested to shift the house as i already took a temporary accommodation,he did not agree saying such n such is not available there ..he cleaned nothing n hence no affect on him..i told 100 times..all in vain.. on top of that after realising issue,I closed the kitchen with curtains n told everyone not to clean areas randomly as once cleaned an area those cleaning clothes should be thrown,only disposable should be used...<br>am concerned on my daughter as my hubby is modifyung her saying there is nothing just because he is lack of experience..</p><p><br>I took the treatment again but along with cleanling on daily basis I was still getting affected in someway or the other..after all this i only realised its extremely poisonous chemicals that they used without knowledge of us. Not only that all our taps gone,immovable etc..i had to replace while cleaning lot many expenses as I had to throw n not to use again..i started understanding lately that I must use only disposables still it&#8217;s very expensive process,not knowing how to handle a poison..in this process we are eating food outside..I do even chocolate, icecream at home all these years..now suddenly everything outside..now not understanding situation at all my hubby started scolding me when will I start cooking first of all we should not even eat the food in the area,we should not even live until it&#8217;s clean..so much of contaminating..no one to understand..</p><p><br>I slowly recollected some of the friends who already shared this information with a lesser explanation..it&#8217;s already happening to lot many families,some are unable to recognise,some families not accepted by other family members ..</p><p>I remembered my cosister told the same 4 years ago,she passed away later with multi organ failure n her son ,i observed he has the similar food symptoms which i face now.<br>I also reduced almost 7kg even mere curd i was unable to smell n taste..whereas I lov curd before.. somany fruits started smelling bad whereas I even eat fruits and entire day once every 2 weeks or so..total life since 3 months is rotating round n round on this path..</p><p><br>I just got a different temporary house in the same apartment n got everything new ..n still somethings I bring from the existing house , cleaning drying n keeping in this process I got to know the smell n taste of the poison it gives an air ,even the air in the tongue taste bitter..that happens on the day when I go to that house for any item..<br>My spouse still staying there calling my daughter for foods..while iam extremely fearful, tensed n stressed he is happily enjoying what I clean in daily..i start cleaning when everyone leaves n close the cleaning before anyone else comes..he takes this as advantage.. understanding situation all alone,all my saving got exhausted..I need to start everything new..I am still fearful for the insensitive spouse action..I am trying to resolve at the earliest..</p><p><br>Never ever call the deep cleaning agencies,n never ever allow their chemical bottles inside your home.. iam suffering unable to connect to office, this cleaning eating my time n health..iam seeking the support of everyone..</p><p>I seek all your prayers and blessings to get rid of this. I called the particular company 100 times,they escaped 100 times with false reasons.</p><p>This experience has taught me that learning sometimes comes from the most unexpected challenges in life.<br>My next step is to gradually rebuild my health, routine, and professional focus with the right support.<br>I will continue my AI learning journey, one step at a time, while sharing meaningful lessons along the way.<br>For now, I hope this difficult chapter eventually leads to greater awareness, strength, and a fresh beginning.</p><p>One of the calls here.</p><div class="native-audio-embed" data-component-name="AudioPlaceholder" data-attrs="{&quot;label&quot;:null,&quot;mediaUploadId&quot;:&quot;3139d2cd-b945-46bd-a725-cfcfcbd2bcf9&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:657.55426,&quot;downloadable&quot;:false,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Invited a Cleaning Service Into My Home. I Never Imagined It Would Ruin the Life.

]]></title><description><![CDATA[lessons]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/i-invited-a-cleaning-service-into</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/i-invited-a-cleaning-service-into</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:31:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vWc5!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d4bf44f-a968-4a93-a129-4fb8a6ecf1e8_503x503.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You don't expect a home cleaning </p><p>appointment to become a chapter of your life that you can't forget.</p><p>For me, it wasn't just about cleaning a kitchen. It was about trusting strangers with the one place where I should have felt safest&#8212;my home.</p><p>Like millions of people, I believed that hiring professionals meant I could relax. They would know which products to use, how to use them safely, and leave my home cleaner than they found it.</p><p>That isn't how my story unfolded.</p><p>After the cleaning, something felt different. The house didn't feel like <em>my</em> house anymore. The smell lingered. I kept opening windows, wiping surfaces, washing things again, hoping the feeling would pass. Instead, I found myself asking questions I never thought I'd have to ask.</p><p>Was it normal?</p><p>Why did my home suddenly feel uncomfortable?</p><p>Why did I feel like I was trying to escape the very place I loved?</p><p>I don't have all the answers, and I'm not claiming to know exactly what caused every symptom I experienced. What I do know is that my&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Good AI Agents Don’t Fail: The 6 Principles Every Intelligent Agent Needs]]></title><description><![CDATA[Imagine a customer support company that built an AI agent to automatically handle incoming support tickets.]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/why-good-ai-agents-dont-fail-the</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/why-good-ai-agents-dont-fail-the</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:29:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!538L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3856ecf7-941f-448d-9992-491129abec8c_384x500.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Imagine a customer support company that built an AI agent to automatically handle incoming support tickets.</p><p>At first, everything looked impressive. The AI replied to customers within seconds, summarized issues, and even suggested solutions.</p><p>But after a few weeks, problems started appearing.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p><p>The agent responded to outdated information, sent duplicate emails, ignored urgent tickets, and sometimes continued processing requests that needed human approval. Customers became frustrated, and support staff had to spend more time fixing the AI&#8217;s mistakes than solving customer problems.</p><p>The company didn&#8217;t have a bad AI model.</p><p>It had a poorly designed AI agent.</p><p>A good AI agent is not just a powerful language model wrapped in a chatbot. It is a complete system that understands its environment, knows what tools it can use, remembers important information, understands timing, and knows when to act&#8212;or when to wait.</p><p>Let&#8217;s explore the six building blocks that make AI agents reliable in the real world.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">1. Environment &#8211; Where the Agent Lives</span></h4><p>Every AI agent operates inside an environment.</p><p>That environment defines everything the agent can access and interact with.</p><p>An environment may include:</p><ul><li><p>Email inboxes</p></li><li><p>CRM systems</p></li><li><p>Company databases</p></li><li><p>Documents</p></li><li><p>Internal APIs</p></li><li><p>Browsers</p></li><li><p>Cloud applications</p></li></ul><p>If the environment is unclear or incomplete, the agent cannot make informed decisions.</p><p>Think of it like hiring an employee but locking them out of every office, application, and document they need to do their job.</p><p>A well-defined environment gives the agent visibility into the information and tools required to complete its tasks effectively.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">2. Discoverability &#8211; What the Agent Can Find</span></h4><p>Even if powerful tools exist, an AI agent cannot use them unless it knows they are available.</p><p>Discoverability means making tools easy for the agent to identify and understand.</p><p>Good discoverability includes:</p><ul><li><p>Clearly described tools</p></li><li><p>Well-documented APIs</p></li><li><p>Meaningful function names</p></li><li><p>Structured metadata</p></li><li><p>Simple input and output definitions</p></li></ul><p>For example, a function named <strong>send_invoice_to_customer()</strong> is far easier for an AI agent to understand than a vague function called <strong>execute_task()</strong>.</p><p>The easier tools are to discover, the better decisions the agent can make.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">3. Time &#8211; Knowing When to Act</span></h4><p>Unlike traditional chatbots, AI agents often work continuously.</p><p>They need to understand <strong>when</strong> an action should happen.</p><p>Different types of timing include:</p><p><strong>Real-Time</strong></p><ul><li><p>Responding to a customer question instantly</p></li></ul><p><strong>Scheduled</strong></p><ul><li><p>Sending a weekly sales report every Monday morning</p></li></ul><p><strong>Event-Based</strong></p><ul><li><p>Creating a support ticket when a new email arrives</p></li><li><p>Notifying the sales team when a high-value lead is detected</p></li></ul><p>Time awareness prevents repeated actions, missed deadlines, and unnecessary processing.</p><p>An intelligent agent knows not only <strong>what</strong> to do but also <strong>when</strong> to do it.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">4. Control States &#8211; Play, Pause, and Use</span></h4><p>Reliable AI agents never operate without controls.</p><p>Every production-ready agent should support three basic states.</p><h5> <mark data-color="#ffff00" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Play</span></mark></h5><p>The agent actively executes tasks.</p><p>Examples include:</p><ul><li><p>Writing reports</p></li><li><p>Sending emails</p></li><li><p>Updating databases</p></li></ul><h5><mark data-color="#ffff00" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Pause</span></mark></h5><p>The agent temporarily stops and waits for human approval.</p><p>Examples include:</p><ul><li><p>Before approving a refund</p></li><li><p>Before deleting records</p></li><li><p>Before sending sensitive information</p></li></ul><h5> <mark data-color="#ffff00" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Use</span></mark></h5><p>The agent interacts with external tools and services.</p><p>Examples include:</p><ul><li><p>Calling APIs</p></li><li><p>Searching databases</p></li><li><p>Executing code</p></li><li><p>Accessing cloud services</p></li></ul><p>These control states make AI agents predictable, safe, and trustworthy.</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[How to Create a Skill in Claude]]></title><description><![CDATA[How to Build Reusable AI Workflows]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-to-create-a-skill-in-claude</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-to-create-a-skill-in-claude</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 14:25:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span>A </span><strong>skill</strong><span> is a reusable set of instructions you give Claude so it repeats a task the same careful way every time &#8212; instead of re-explaining yourself from scratch. Below are 6 steps to build one, illustrated with a real school example.</span></p><p><strong>example scenario</strong></p><p>Aditi was the top student in her class last year. This term her Social Studies grades have slipped, and her teacher wants a quick, consistent way to write home about it &#8212; one that&#8217;s encouraging, specific, and gives her parents a clear next step. We&#8217;ll build a skill for exactly that: <strong>&#8220;Student Progress Note.&#8221;</strong></p><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Name the problem you keep solving</span></strong></h4><p>Look for a task you repeat often, with a similar shape each time. The teacher realizes she writes a &#8220;check-in note&#8221; to parents every time a student&#8217;s grades change &#8212; that&#8217;s worth turning into a skill.</p><p><em>Example: &#8220;I keep writing progress notes home. I want Claude to draft these consistently.&#8221;</em></p><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Decide exactly what it should do</span></strong></h4><p>Write down the inputs (what you&#8217;ll give it) and the output (what it should produce). Keep the scope narrow &#8212; one clear job.</p><p><strong>Input:</strong> student name, subject, past performance, current performance, one supporting detail<br><strong>Output:</strong> a short, warm note home &#8212; what changed, a likely cause, one concrete next step</p><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Collect one good example</span></strong></h4><p>Gather a real (or realistic) sample so Claude has a concrete case to learn the pattern from &#8212; not an abstract description.</p><p>Aditi Rao &#183; Social Studies &#183; Was averaging 92% first term, now averaging 74% this term. Seems distracted during map-reading exercises; homework is often late.</p><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Write the instructions</span></strong></h4><p>Spell out tone, structure, and any rules to follow &#8212; this is the skill itself. Be specific about what &#8220;good&#8221; looks like.</p><p>&#8220;Write a short note home (120&#8211;150 words) about a change in a student&#8217;s performance. Open with something genuine and positive about the student. State the change in plain numbers. Suggest one likely, non-judgmental cause. End with one specific, doable next step for home. Warm, respectful tone &#8212; never scold the student or parent.&#8221;</p><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Test it and check the output</span></strong></h4><p>Run the skill with the example from Step 3. Read the result the way a parent would &#8212; is it clear, kind, and useful?</p><p><em>&#8220;Aditi has always brought real curiosity to class, which is why this term&#8217;s dip stood out. Her Social Studies average has moved from 92% to 74%, mostly around map-based work. It may simply need a slower run-through at home. A 15-minute map review together twice a week could help close the gap quickly.&#8221;</em></p><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Refine, save, and reuse</span></strong></h4><p>Adjust the instructions until the output consistently sounds right, then save the skill. Next time a student&#8217;s grades shift, the teacher just plugs in new details &#8212; no rewriting from scratch.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p><p>1.Login to claude and Chose Customize to Select the Skill and add a new skill and use it whenever you need.</p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png" width="525" height="396" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:396,&quot;width&quot;:525,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:22845,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/206853096?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oDKo!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F964e3c2c-5f39-4558-b0e4-54066d2b7829_525x396.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>2.Add a skill, give the name, add Prompt (Sampel above)</p>
      <p>
          <a href="/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-to-create-a-skill-in-claude">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[What is an MCP Server?]]></title><description><![CDATA[How can we connect to Claude]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-an-mcp-server</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-an-mcp-server</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 21:06:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/206667980/b6834efe239bfd2df85c1657fb9292e9.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that allows AI assistants to securely connect with external tools, applications, databases, and services through a common interface.</p><p>Instead of building a separate integration for every AI model, developers create an MCP server once, and any MCP-compatible AI assistant can use it.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">1. File System MCP Server</span></h4><p>Provides access to files and folders.</p><p>Allows AI to read, write, search, and organize documents.</p><p>Example: An AI assistant finding a report in your Documents folder and updating it.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">2. Database MCP Server</span></h4><p>Connects AI to databases.</p><p>Allows querying, updating, and analyzing structured data.</p><p>Example: An AI assistant retrieving customer orders from a SQL database.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">3. GitHub MCP Server</span></h4><p>Gives AI access to GitHub repositories.</p><p>Allows reading code, reviewing pull requests, creating issues, and managing repositories.</p><p>Example: An AI assistant reviewing code changes and creating a pull request.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">4. Web/API MCP Server</span></h4><p>Connects AI to external APIs and online services.</p><p>Allows retrieving live information or interacting with cloud applications.</p><p>Example: An AI assistant checking today&#8217;s weather or sending a Slack message.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">5. Productivity MCP Server</span></h4><p>Integrates with workplace productivity tools.</p><p>Allows AI to manage calendars, emails, documents, and tasks.</p><p>Example: An AI assistant scheduling a meeting and sending invitations through Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">6. Custom MCP Server</span></h4><p>Built specifically for an organization&#8217;s internal systems.</p><p>Allows AI to securely access proprietary applications and business workflows.</p><p>Example: A hospital&#8217;s MCP server allowing an AI assistant to retrieve patient appointments without exposing the entire hospital system.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png" width="742" height="302" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:302,&quot;width&quot;:742,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:56256,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/206667980?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EzHl!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd89d48a-4d8d-488a-ade4-980773d8abed_742x302.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>If your AI assistant could securely connect to one tool using an MCP server, what would you choose&#8212;and how would it save you time every day?</em></p><p><em><strong>How can we connect</strong> </em></p><div class="paywall-jump" data-component-name="PaywallToDOM"></div><p>AI Assistant</p><p>      &#9474;</p><p>MCP Client</p><p>      &#9474;</p><p>MCP Server</p><p>      &#9474;</p><p>Tool or Service</p><p>(File System, GitHub, Database, Slack, etc.)</p><p>Step 1: Start an MCP Server:</p><p>npx ../server-filesystem C:\Projects     </p><p>Step 2: Configure Your AI Client</p><p>In an MCP-compatible AI application (such as Claude Desktop or another MCP client), add the server configuration.</p><p>Step 3: Restart the AI Appl.</p><p>After restarting, the AI detects the MCP server automatically.</p><p>Step 4: Start Asking Questions</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3TY4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c772bcc-1f2d-45e6-83ea-9ea8b02ae28b_542x468.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3TY4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c772bcc-1f2d-45e6-83ea-9ea8b02ae28b_542x468.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3TY4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, 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/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c772bcc-1f2d-45e6-83ea-9ea8b02ae28b_542x468.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3TY4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c772bcc-1f2d-45e6-83ea-9ea8b02ae28b_542x468.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3TY4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, 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stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Friday Routine Ravi Stopped Rebuilding Every Week]]></title><description><![CDATA[Agentic AI &#183; Claude Cowork]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-friday-routine-ravi-stopped-rebuilding</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-friday-routine-ravi-stopped-rebuilding</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:49:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vWc5!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8d4bf44f-a968-4a93-a129-4fb8a6ecf1e8_503x503.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Every Friday evening, Ravi, a software developer, spent 45 minutes doing the same routine: checking project updates, summarizing completed work, listing blockers, and planning next week's priorities. It wasn't difficult &#8212; it was just repetitive. Every week started with a blank page</p><p>Then he tried Claude Cowork.</p><p>He described the task once, scheduled it for every Friday at 5:00 PM, and Claude generated a structured weekly report automatically. Instead of rebuilding the same document each week, Ravi spent a few minutes reviewing and personalizing it. The routine didn&#8217;t disappear &#8212; it became consistent.</p><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">What actually happens behind the scenes</span></strong></h4><p>This isn&#8217;t a script running quietly in the background. Each scheduled run opens a fresh Cowork session with full access to Ravi&#8217;s files and connectors &#8212; reading project updates, pulling context, and writing the report the same way Ravi would if he sat down and did it manually.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png" width="534" height="136" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:136,&quot;width&quot;:534,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:19607,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/206860698?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RDJY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffed5a2f4-808f-4ca7-bda9-3e7999096af1_534x136.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">That&#8217;s what makes Claude Cowork different</span></strong></h4><p>If you&#8217;ve been curious about agentic AI&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Generative AI vs Agentic AI vs AI Agents: Understanding the Three Levels of AI]]></title><description><![CDATA[Generative AI]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/generative-ai-vs-agentic-ai-vs-ai</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/generative-ai-vs-agentic-ai-vs-ai</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 08:21:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bzxA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2e8ffe83-7bbd-42dd-9100-0d440da66759_546x479.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In today&#8217;s AI landscape, terms like Generative AI, Agentic AI, and AI Agents are often used interchangeably. While they are closely related, they represent different levels of intelligence, autonomy, and capability.</p><p>Understanding the difference is becoming essential for founders, developers, business leaders, and professionals looking to use AI effectively rather than simply following the latest trend.</p><p>The progression is straightforward:</p><p><strong><mark data-color="#ffff00" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Generative AI creates.</span></mark></strong></p><p><strong><mark data-color="#ffff00" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">AI Agents execute.</span></mark></strong></p><p><strong><mark data-color="#ffff00" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Agentic AI plans, reasons, and accomplishes goals.</span></mark></strong></p><p>Let&#8217;s break down what each one really means.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">1. Generative AI Creates Content</span></h4><p>Generative AI is designed to produce new content based on prompts provided by users.</p><p>It predicts the next word, image, line of code, or audio segment using patterns learned from massive datasets.</p><p>It does not independently pursue goals or make decisions.</p><p>It simply responds.</p><p>Examples include:</p><ul><li><p>Writing articles</p></li><li><p>Generating images</p></li><li><p>Creating presentations</p></li><li><p>Summarizing documents</p></li><li><p>Translating languages</p></li><li><p>Writing computer code</p></li></ul><p>Every interaction usually starts with a prompt and ends with a response.</p><p>Think of Generative AI as an incredibly knowledgeable assistant waiting for instructions.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">2. AI Agents Perform Tasks</span></h4><p>An AI Agent goes beyond generating content.</p><p>Instead of only answering questions, it can perform actions using available tools.</p><p>It receives a goal, decides which tools to use, executes tasks, observes results, and continues until the objective is completed.</p><p>Typical capabilities include:</p><ul><li><p>Searching the web</p></li><li><p>Reading files</p></li><li><p>Calling APIs</p></li><li><p>Updating databases</p></li><li><p>Sending emails</p></li><li><p>Booking meetings</p></li><li><p>Running scripts</p></li></ul><p>Rather than saying:</p><p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s how you can do it.&#8221;</p><p>An AI Agent says:</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll do it for you.&#8221;</p><p>This makes AI Agents ideal for automating repetitive workflows.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">3. Agentic AI Thinks Like a Problem Solver</span></h4><p>Agentic AI represents the next evolution.</p><p>Instead of completing one task at a time, it works toward larger objectives with minimal human intervention.</p><p>It can:</p><ul><li><p>Break complex goals into smaller tasks</p></li><li><p>Plan multiple steps</p></li><li><p>Choose different strategies</p></li><li><p>Learn from intermediate results</p></li><li><p>Coordinate multiple AI agents</p></li><li><p>Adapt when circumstances change</p></li></ul><p>Rather than following fixed instructions, Agentic AI reasons through problems and adjusts its approach as new information becomes available.</p><p>Its focus is no longer on individual tasks.</p><p>Its focus is achieving outcomes.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">4. The Difference Is the Level of Autonomy</span></h4><p>The easiest way to understand these technologies is by how much independence they have.</p><p>TechnologyMain PurposeHuman InvolvementGenerative AICreates contentHighAI AgentsExecutes tasksModerateAgentic AIAchieves goals through planning and reasoningLow</p><p>As autonomy increases, AI moves from being a helpful tool to becoming a collaborative digital worker.</p>
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          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Top 10 AI Tools Aren’t What Changed My Life]]></title><description><![CDATA[Learning How to Think With AI Did]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/top-10-ai-tools-arent-what-changed</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/top-10-ai-tools-arent-what-changed</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 12 Jul 2026 14:27:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<h5> Every morning, another AI tool launches.</h5><p>One promises to replace your designer.</p><p>Another claims to write your emails.</p><p>A third says it can build your startup in minutes.</p><p>For a while, I chased every new release. I bookmarked tools, watched demos, and filled spreadsheets with names I barely remembered. I thought becoming good at AI meant knowing every tool on the internet.</p><p>It didn&#8217;t.</p><p>The biggest shift happened when I stopped asking:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png" width="385" height="497" 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/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Pgl5!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6980dda3-79ce-4fb8-93a2-db0ea7fa3eba_385x497.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p><strong>What&#8217;s the newest AI tool?</strong></p><p>And started asking:</p><p><strong>What problem am I trying to solve?</strong></p><p>That simple question changed everything.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">The AI Trap Most Beginners Fall Into</span></h4><p>When people start learning AI, they often collect tools instead of skills.</p><p>One day they&#8217;re trying ChatGPT.</p><p>The next day Claude.</p><p>Then Gemini.</p><p>Then Perplexity.</p><p>Then another AI app someone recommended on LinkedIn.</p><p>Weeks later, they&#8217;ve tried fifty tools but built nothing.</p><p>I know because I did exactly that.</p><p>The excitement of discovering new AI tools slowly became the distraction that stopped me from actually learning AI.</p><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">I Realized Tools Come and Go</span></h4><p>Think about the software you&#8217;ve used over the last ten years.</p><p>Some disappeared.</p><p>Some were acquired.</p><p>Some became irrelevant.</p><p>AI tools will follow the same path.</p><p>The people who succeed won&#8217;t be the ones who memorized hundreds of tools.</p><p>They&#8217;ll be the ones who understand how to think, experiment, and solve problems with AI.</p><p>That&#8217;s a skill no software update can replace.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div><hr></div><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">The Only Ten AI Tools I Actually Use Regularly</span></h4><p>People often ask me for my favorite AI tools.</p><p>Ironically, my list has become shorter over time.</p><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">1. ChatGPT</span></h5><p>My thinking partner.</p><p>Writing, brainstorming, coding, planning, and explaining complex ideas.</p><div><hr></div><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">2. Claude</span></h5><p>Perfect for long-form writing, document analysis, and thoughtful editing.</p><p>It feels less like asking questions and more like collaborating with an editor.</p><div><hr></div><p><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">3. Gemini</span></p><p>Excellent when working across Google&#8217;s ecosystem and researching ideas.</p><div><hr></div><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">4. Perplexity</span></h5><p>Instead of searching dozens of websites, I use it to research topics with cited sources.</p><p>It has changed how I gather information.</p><div><hr></div><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">5. GitHub Copilot</span></h5><p>Writing code isn&#8217;t about typing faster.</p><p>It&#8217;s about thinking better.</p><p>Copilot handles repetitive coding so I can focus on architecture.</p><div><hr></div><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">6. Canva AI</span></h5><p>Images, presentations, social posts, and visual storytelling&#8212;all without spending hours designing.</p><div><hr></div><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">7. NotebookLM</span></h5><p>One of the most underrated AI tools.</p><p>Upload your documents and have conversations with your own knowledge.</p><div><hr></div><p><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">8. Cursor</span></p><p>An AI-first code editor that makes software development feel like pair programming.</p><div><hr></div><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">9. ElevenLabs</span></h5><p>When I need realistic voice narration or audio content, this saves hours.</p><div><hr></div><h5><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">10. n8n</span></h5><p>Automation changed the way I work.</p><p>Instead of asking AI one question at a time, I build workflows where AI completes entire processes automatically.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png" width="618" height="432" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:432,&quot;width&quot;:618,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:559477,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/206582803?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o0x6!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43e6011c-ad26-4cc8-b6f5-c0643d56423d_618x432.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" 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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[How I Learned AI]]></title><description><![CDATA[From a Curious Software Engineer to Building AI Products That People Use]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-i-learned-ai</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-i-learned-ai</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:08:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jMiM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0a761a0c-76c0-47c6-a498-1790b205e2bf_306x484.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Few years ago, AI felt overwhelming.</p><p>Every day there was a new tool, a new model, and another headline claiming everything had changed. Instead of trying to learn everything, I decided to learn one small concept at a time.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>That decision changed how I work, write, and build software.</p><p>Today, I build AI-powered projects, write AI newsletters, create learning resources for students, and use AI almost every day&#8212;not because I&#8217;m an AI researcher, but because I stayed consistent.</p><h4><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">I Stopped Chasing Every AI Tool</span></h4><p>At first, I made the same mistake many beginners make.</p><p>I bookmarked hundreds of AI tools, watched countless YouTube videos, and saved dozens of articles. I was consuming information but creating nothing.</p><p>The turning point came when I stopped asking, &#8220;What is the newest AI tool?&#8221; and started asking, &#8220;What problem can AI solve for me today?&#8221;</p><p>That single question made learning &#8230;</p>
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          <a href="/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-i-learned-ai">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Discipline of the Repeatable System]]></title><description><![CDATA[On Prompting, Memory, and the Seduction of Doing It Only Once]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-discipline-of-the-repeatable</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-discipline-of-the-repeatable</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:03:47 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is something intoxicating about a system that operates with quiet autonomy&#8212;deeply occupied in tasks you set in motion but do not need to micromanage. There is a quiet allure to an AI workflow that is absorbed in its own reasoning loops, tool calls, and iterative decisions. It feels layered, self-contained, and slightly undiscovered. It moves through complex objectives with a quiet confidence, a self-possession that feels almost forbidden. You sense it immediately, the way it holds progress without constant prompting, the way its outputs linger and compound long after your initial input. It is not performing on demand. It has somewhere else to be&#8212;internal chains of thought, memory banks, external tool integrations. Nothing is more powerful than an agent that has momentum, even if that momentum is algorithmic.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png" width="305" height="548" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:548,&quot;width&quot;:305,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:342105,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205288676?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_OU4!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb06591af-aacf-4524-ae26-7ed816c8f8d8_305x548.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>This is not about passive prompting. True capability begins when your AI attention is no longer tethered to every keystroke. It is about cultivating workflows so rich, so abs&#8230;</p>
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          <a href="/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-discipline-of-the-repeatable">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[What Is an AI Agent? (And What Can We Actually Do With One?) ]]></title><description><![CDATA[The difference between a tool that answers you and one that acts for you.]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-an-ai-agent-and-what-can</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-an-ai-agent-and-what-can</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2026 21:06:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You ask a friend to &#8220;handle dinner tonight.&#8221; You don&#8217;t hand them a recipe, a shopping list, and step-by-step instructions. You give them a goal, and they figure out the rest &#8212; check what&#8217;s in the fridge, decide what to cook, go buy what&#8217;s missing, and get it done. You didn&#8217;t micromanage a single step.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png" width="564" height="400" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:400,&quot;width&quot;:564,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:400211,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205286944?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0ZJr!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e2dea9d-4123-490a-85e6-61109d6378f9_564x400.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>Now compare that to typing a question into a search bar. You ask, it answers, and then you&#8217;re the one who has to go do something with that answer. That&#8217;s the entire difference between a regular AI tool and an <strong>AI agent</strong> &#8212; and once you see it, you&#8217;ll notice it&#8217;s the difference between almost every AI product that existed a few years ago and the ones being built right now.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png" width="624" height="109" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:109,&quot;width&quot;:624,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:26588,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205286944?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3kuE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7df73294-7252-4216-a85c-5036ad0bb4d0_624x109.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png" width="517" height="210" 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/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tKgq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb94ff829-6881-45d0-ba76-7307b3e5e9ba_517x210.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><h3><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">The AI Behind It</span></strong></h3><h2><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">From Answering to Acting</span></strong></h2><h2><strong>From Answering to Acting</strong></h2><p>Here&#8217;s the working definition: <strong>an AI agent is an AI system that can take a goal, break it into steps, use tools to carry those steps out, and check its own progress along the way &#8212; with only a little supervision from you.</strong> That&#8217;s a longer definition than &#8220;a chatbot,&#8221; and for good reason &#8212; an agent is doing genuinely more.</p><p>Three ingredients turn a plain AI model into an agent:</p><ul><li><p><strong>A goal, not just a question.</strong> You don&#8217;t ask an agent &#8220;what&#8217;s the capital of France.&#8221; You tell it &#8220;book me the cheapest flight to Paris next weekend&#8221; &#8212; a goal with several steps hidden inside it.</p></li><li><p><strong>Tools it can actually use.</strong> An agent isn&#8217;t limited to its own memory. It can search the web, read a calendar, send an email, run code, or call another app &#8212; reaching outside the conversation to get real things done.</p></li><li><p><strong>A loop that checks its own work.</strong> After each step, an agent asks itself something like &#8220;did that work? what&#8217;s left?&#8221; &#8212; and adjusts. If a flight search comes back empty, it tries different dates instead of just reporting failure back to you.</p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png" width="581" height="236" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:236,&quot;width&quot;:581,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:28693,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205286944?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!whIq!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff8a117ce-8584-46b0-b68f-179dee635488_581x236.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div></li></ul><p></p><h3><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">What Can We Do With It</span></strong></h3><h2><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">Six Things an Agent Can Handle That a Chatbot Can&#8217;t</span></strong></h2>
      <p>
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              Read more
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Open Standard Teaching AI Agents New Tricks]]></title><description><![CDATA[Agent Skills]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-open-standard-teaching-ai-agents</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-open-standard-teaching-ai-agents</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2026 16:17:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>A simple folder with a text file in it is quietly becoming the way AI coding agents learn to do specialized work &#8212; reliably, and across dozens of different tools.</strong></p><p><strong>TL;DR:</strong> Agent Skills is an open format, originally created by Anthropic, for packaging specialized knowledge and step-by-step workflows that AI agents can load when they need them. A skill is just a folder with a required <code>SKILL.md</code> file plus optional scripts, references, and templates. Agents discover skills by name and description first, then load the full instructions only when a task actually calls for them &#8212; which keeps a huge library of expertise available without clogging up context. Dozens of coding agents and platforms already support it.</p><p><strong>Most people assume an AI coding agent either &#8220;knows&#8221; how to do something or it doesn&#8217;t. Agent Skills challenge that assumption &#8212; instead of trying to cram every possible procedure into a model&#8217;s training, you hand the agent a folder of instructions for exactly the task at hand, and it reads them right when it needs them.</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png" width="388" height="548" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:548,&quot;width&quot;:388,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:247459,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205793324?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHXY!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd456fcad-eede-4dc9-998e-dba964576a89_388x548.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>The idea is straightforward: a skill is a folder containing a <code>SKILL.md</code> file with, at minimum, a name and a description, plus instructions for performing a specific task. It can also bundle scripts, reference documentation, or templates. That&#8217;s the whole format &#8212; no special runtime, no proprietary plugin system, just files an agent can read.</p><h4><strong>What you&#8217;ll find in this story</strong></h4><ul><li><p>What an Agent Skill actually is, in plain terms</p></li><li><p>The three-stage process agents use to load skills without wasting context</p></li><li><p>Why this format exists and what problem it solves</p></li><li><p>Which tools already support it &#8212; the list is longer than you&#8217;d expect</p></li></ul><h4><strong>What Is an Agent Skill?</strong></h4><p>At its simplest, a skill is a folder like this:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png" width="536" height="193" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:193,&quot;width&quot;:536,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:21631,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205793324?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!feFR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbb131376-5b7d-4588-a5fa-3226ae431421_536x193.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p style="text-align: center;"><em>The whole format in one glance: a required instructions file, plus anything else the task needs.</em></p><p>The required piece is the <code>SKILL.md</code> file, which holds a name, a description, and instructions for handling a specific task. Everything else &#8212; scripts, reference docs, templates &#8212; is optional and only gets pulled in if the task actually needs it.</p><h4><strong>How Skills Get Loaded: Progressive Disclosure</strong></h4>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[How to Use Claude at Work]]></title><description><![CDATA[The one lesson underneath all stories]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-to-use-claude-at-work</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/how-to-use-claude-at-work</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:15:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ebU5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F36b13612-0362-4ef0-9cbb-628ef3ddf60f_1008x1040.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Summary</strong>: Claude &#8212; like any AI tool &#8212; is safe to use at work when you control what it sees and remembers. The risk isn't the tool itself, it's pasting the wrong thing into it by habit. Below: the ten habits that get people fired or sued, and the ten swaps that keep you safe while still getting the speed benefit..</p><p>Picture the scene: it's late, the coffee's gone cold, and you've just pasted the client contract into a chat window to "get a quick summary." That single habit &#8212; pasting first, thinking later &#8212; is where almost every AI-at-work horror story actually begins.</p><p>None of this means avoid AI tools. It means treat them the way you'd treat any new system with access to company information: with a few non-negotiable habits, not a blanket ban. Here's the working list.</p><p>Before the list: most of what follows isn't Claude-specific &#8212; it applies to any AI tool you didn't get from your company's IT team. The habits are what matter, not the brand name on the login screen.</p><p><strong>The Don'ts &amp; Do's </strong></p><p>1. The Forever Chat</p><p>Priya used the same AI chat every day for a month, never once checking her settings. She didn't know that with training left on, her conversations could sit on a server for up to 5 years.</p><p>&#128073; The fix: Before you type anything, check your privacy settings and turn off "help improve our AI models." Better yet, use a temporary or incognito-style chat &#8212; it never saves, never trains, and takes ten seconds to switch on.</p><p>2. The Copy-Paste Coder</p><p>A group of engineers at a big company pasted their company's private code into an AI chat to debug it faster. It happened three times in twenty days before anyone noticed. The tool got banned for the whole company.</p><p>&#128073; The fix: Never paste real source code into a public AI tool. If you need help with a coding problem, describe the logic or use a small, made-up example instead of the real file.</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The 4 Habits That Make AI Coding Assistants Actually Useful]]></title><description><![CDATA[Karpathy Skills]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-4-habits-that-make-ai-coding</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-4-habits-that-make-ai-coding</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:44:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#128161; Imagine asking an AI to "add a login page," and instead of only adding the login page, it rewrites half your application, introduces new bugs, and changes your folder structure. That's a common frustration with AI coding assistants. The idea behind <strong>Karpathy Skills</strong> is to make AI behave more like a disciplined senior engineer than an overenthusiastic intern.</p><p>Before you ask an AI to write a single line of code, there's a mindset worth borrowing &#8212; one associated with AI researcher Andrej Karpathy's approach to building software alongside AI.</p><p><strong>TL;DR:<span> "Karpathy Skills" is shorthand for a set of habits that keep AI-assisted coding grounded and reliable: the assistant asks questions instead of guessing, makes small changes instead of sweeping rewrites, resists the urge to over-engineer, and favors code a human can actually read and maintain. None of this is magic &#8212; it's discipline, applied consistently.</span></strong></p><p>A lot of people assume that coding with AI means describing a feature and watching a finished app appear. In practice, the assistants that produce the best results behave more like careful junior engineers than magicians &#8212; and that difference in behavior is exactly what these four skills are about.</p><p>Andrej Karpathy, a well-known AI researcher and former Tesla and OpenAI leader, has written and spoken publicly about how working with large language models on code works best when the human stays in the loop and the model stays disciplined rather than ambitious. The four habits below are a practical distillation of that idea &#8212; not a literal transcript of anything he&#8217;s said, but a summary of the spirit behind it, adapted for anyone building software with an AI assistant today.</p><h4><strong>What you&#8217;ll find in this story</strong></h4><ul><li><p>The four core habits behind &#8220;Karpathy Skills&#8221; and why each one matters</p></li><li><p>What happens to a codebase when an AI assistant skips them</p></li><li><p>How to actually apply these habits in a prompt or project instructions</p></li><li><p>Why &#8220;small and boring&#8221; usually beats &#8220;big and impressive&#8221; in real codex</p></li></ul><h4><strong><span data-color="#9673f7" style="color: rgb(150, 115, 247);">The Four Skills</span></strong></h4><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png" width="392" height="472" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:472,&quot;width&quot;:392,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:245465,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205787534?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uUhL!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa94b2cb9-d007-40c7-ac5b-72f261758fe1_392x472.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><h4><strong>Ask questions instead of making assumptions</strong></h4><p>When a request is ambiguous, a disciplined AI assistant asks &#8212; or at least states its assumption out loud &#8212; rather than silently guessing and running with it. Guessing wrong on requirement #1 can waste an entire session, while one clarifying question up front costs almost nothing. The goal isn&#8217;t to interrogate the user for every detail, but to catch the one ambiguity that would send the whole task in the wrong direction.</p><h4><strong>Keep code changes small</strong></h4><p>A small, focused diff is easy to read, easy to review, and easy to undo if it&#8217;s wrong. A sprawling rewrite that touches twenty files is none of those things, even if the end result technically works. Karpathy-style discipline means preferring the minimal change that solves the actual problem over a broader refactor nobody asked for.</p><h4><strong>Avoid over-engineering</strong></h4><p>It&#8217;s tempting for an AI assistant to add abstraction layers, configuration options, or &#8220;future-proofing&#8221; that no one requested. Most of that complexity never gets used and just makes the code harder to understand later. The stronger habit is solving today&#8217;s actual problem simply, and adding structure only when a real second use case shows up.</p><h4><strong>Write cleaner, maintainable code</strong></h4>
      <p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[What Is an AI Workflow?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Not another prompt. A system that remembers the steps so you don't have to]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-an-ai-workflow</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-an-ai-workflow</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 18:34:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VFs6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63a5a356-25a0-4ecb-b420-db73e8eebfb8_544x488.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vQ5s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vQ5s!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vQ5s!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vQ5s!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vQ5s!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vQ5s!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png" 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/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!vQ5s!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fee9c7-eab7-4f1e-89de-f025a75a1774_615x293.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Every Monday, a research brief lands in a creator&#8217;s Slack before she&#8217;s finished her coffee. It&#8217;s already scanned nine platforms, ranked what&#8217;s trending in her niche, and handed her a shortlist of topics worth writing about. She didn&#8217;t type a single search query. She set this up once, months ago, and it has quietly run itself every week since.</p><p>That&#8217;s not a clever prompt. A clever prompt is something you type once and read once. What she built is an <strong>AI workflow</strong> &#8212; and once you start noticing the difference, you&#8217;ll see why &#8220;just ask ChatGPT&#8221; and &#8220;build a workflow&#8221; are two entirely different levels of working with AI.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, 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/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png" width="611" height="138" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:138,&quot;width&quot;:611,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:38528,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205284339?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!TlR_!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3072b5-f00a-441f-b827-b7956296c800_611x138.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong><sub><mark data-color="#9673f7" style="background-color: rgb(150, 115, 247); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span data-color="#ffff00" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">The AI Behind It</span></mark></sub></strong></h3><h2><strong>A Workflow Is a Chain, Not a Chat</strong></h2><p>Here&#8217;s the working definition: an <strong>AI workflow is a repeatable sequence of steps &#8212; trigger, tool calls, decisions, and output &#8212; that an AI system carries out with minimal re-explaining each time.</strong> Instead of you manually copying data between five tabs, the workflow does the copying, the reasoning, and the formatting, in the same order, every time it runs.</p><p>Three things separate a workflow from a one-off chat:</p><ul><li><p><strong>It has a trigger.</strong> Something starts it &#8212; a schedule (&#8221;every Saturday at 10am&#8221;), an event (&#8221;a new email arrives&#8221;), or a command you give once and reuse (&#8221;run my prospect brief on this company&#8221;).</p></li><li><p><strong>It calls real tools, not just its own memory.</strong> This is where <strong>MCP &#8212; the Model Context Protocol</strong> &#8212; comes in. MCP is the standard that lets an AI model like Claude actually reach outside the chat window: pull a real Slack message, read a real spreadsheet, check a real calendar, instead of guessing based on what it was trained on.</p></li><li><p><strong>It makes small decisions along the way.</strong> &#8220;If this data source has nothing new, skip it.&#8221; &#8220;If the sentiment score is negative, route to the escalation folder.&#8221; That branching logic is what makes it a workflow instead of a simple script.</p><ul><li><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png" width="609" height="209" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:209,&quot;width&quot;:609,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:16379,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205284339?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R0Lx!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbea74957-765a-4fad-95da-439746dc39c7_609x209.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div></li></ul></li></ul><h3><strong>Real Builders, Real Workflows</strong></h3><h2><strong>What This Looks Like Outside a Textbook</strong></h2><p>Two creators in the AI-education space have built entire publications around exactly this idea, and looking at their approaches side by side is a good way to see the range of what &#8220;a workflow&#8221; can mean.</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[What Is Artificial Intelligence?]]></title><description><![CDATA[A beginner's guide for curious minds &#8212; told through a story, not a textbook.]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-artificial-intelligence</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/what-is-artificial-intelligence</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 15:10:57 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YGaj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6d9369b1-2aa1-401f-ae17-c317e2d0d808_649x316.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s 7:03 a.m. Your alarm doesn&#8217;t just ring &#8212; it checks the traffic, notices your first class got moved, and quietly adds four extra minutes to your morning. You didn&#8217;t ask it to do any of that. It just... knew.</p><p>Later that day, your photo app sorts your pictures into &#8220;beach,&#8221; &#8220;friends,&#8221; and &#8220;dog,&#8221; without you labeling a single one. Your search bar finishes your sentence before you&#8217;ve decided what you&#8217;re typing. None of this feels like magic anymore &#8212; it feels normal. But every one of those small moments is artificial intelligence quietly doing its job.</p><p>So what actually <em>is</em> it? Not the movie-robot version. The real one &#8212; the one already living in your pocket.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png" width="646" height="151" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:151,&quot;width&quot;:646,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:35780,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/205280288?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rO8x!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F05e73bed-dbfd-4f23-9d4b-00b9e3ba2806_646x151.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><strong>The AI Behind It</strong></h3><h2><strong>Teaching a Computer to Notice Patterns</strong></h2><p>Here&#8217;s the simplest honest definition: <strong>artificial intelligence is software that learns from examples instead of following a fixed list of instructions.</strong> A traditional program only does exactly what a human typed into it, step by step. An AI system is shown thousands &#8212; sometimes bill&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[MyClaw.ai: Build Your Own 24/7 AI Employee]]></title><description><![CDATA[A Step-by-Step Walkthrough]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/myclawai-build-your-own-247-ai-employee</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/myclawai-build-your-own-247-ai-employee</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 15:42:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span>If you&#8217;ve been following the AI automation space recently, chances are you&#8217;ve heard people talking about AI agents. Not chatbots that simply answer questions, but AI assistants that can actually do things for you&#8212;manage tasks, automate workflows, monitor information, conduct research, and help run parts of your business while you focus on more important work.</span></p><p><em><span>One of the most exciting projects in this space is </span><a href="https://myclaw.ai/?utm_source=sub-aiforprofessional"><span>MyClaw.ai</span></a><span>.</span></em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p><span>MyClaw is the fully managed cloud version of OpenClaw &#8212; a hosted, always-on AI agent designed for comprehensive personal automation and tasks. Instead of dealing with local setup, servers, or maintenance, MyClaw gives you a pre-configured, 24/7 cloud instance you can start using right away.</span></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png" width="674" height="651" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:651,&quot;width&quot;:674,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YmQR!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83f1fcb6-c023-4a53-a338-b4a285c32a5d_674x651.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><span>MyClaw allows you to build a personal AI employee that can interact with tools, remember context within a session, and perform real-world tasks. The possibilities ar&#8230;</span></p>
      <p>
          <a href="/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/myclawai-build-your-own-247-ai-employee">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[[COPY] 5 AI Photo Editing Prompts That Create Studio-Quality Results instantly : Chapter 7]]></title><description><![CDATA[the Ultimate Guide to Realistic AI Photo Editing Prompts]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/copy-5-ai-photo-editing-prompts-that</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/copy-5-ai-photo-editing-prompts-that</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:38:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most AI photo edits fail for four reasons:</p><blockquote><p>Realism &#8211; Faces, lighting, and textures often look artificial</p><p>Consistency &#8211; Small edits distort the original image</p><p>Precision &#8211; Clothing, posture, and expressions lose detail</p><p>Authenticity &#8211; The final result no longer feels human</p></blockquote><p>After analyzing thousands of AI-generated photo edits, I identified the prompts that consistently produce studio-quality results while preserving realism and natural detail.</p><p>These high-performance prompts help creators achieve:</p><p>Professional-grade edits &#8211; Without expensive software</p><p>Photorealistic accuracy &#8211; Natural lighting, textures, and facial preservation</p><p>Precise enhancements &#8211; Expressions, posture, and clothing adjustments that blend seamlessly</p><p>High-end creative output &#8211; Suitable for creators, brands, marketers, and digital professionals</p><p>Simply ask the AI using the prompts below, attache your photo.</p><p><strong>Prompt1:</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png" width="296" height="494" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:494,&quot;width&quot;:296,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:216801,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/199312916?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W2da!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f4bdec-dddb-4e6e-a6c8-47eb676e264f_296x494.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em><strong>8K 9:16 ultra-realistic seamless portrait. attached woman with glasses in one continuous blended frame. Left: Child version sitting, innocent smile, &#8220;1990&#8221; above. Right: Adult version sitting cross-legged, hands under chin, smiling at her younger self, &#8220;2026&#8221; above. Plain soft beige studio background. Soft warm cinematic lighting, DSLR 85mm, natural skin texture, nostalgic and emotional mood.</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png" width="438" height="289" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:289,&quot;width&quot;:438,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:110466,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/199312916?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!UW45!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5fa79070-ca79-417c-8e20-71bfa0cc99a8_438x289.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p><strong>Prompt2:</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png" width="616" height="317" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:317,&quot;width&quot;:616,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:137436,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/i/199312916?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-C-!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F139c50b8-7eb8-4276-87c5-f83d0f57004a_616x317.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em><strong>A professional close-up portrait of a South Asian woman with long wavy dark hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses, showing a warm genuine smile with teeth visible, eyes softly crinkled at the corners in happiness, friendly approachable expression, looking slightly upwards and to the right with bright engaging gaze, soft natural lighting, purple background.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong><br></strong></em><strong>Prompt3</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dPLE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dPLE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dPLE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dPLE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dPLE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dPLE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png" width="492" height="288" 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/__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dPLE!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F76852a15-efc8-418f-9a5a-b8276d4fc5a5_492x288.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Meet Your AI Work Assistant — The Absolute Basics]]></title><description><![CDATA[episode 1 - 21daysAIPromptingSkills]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/meet-your-ai-work-assistant-the-absolute</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/meet-your-ai-work-assistant-the-absolute</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 08:56:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!0EIX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3dd04c43-cebc-43c9-9758-729bbfcc90eb_383x554.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most professionals don&#8217;t need to become AI experts.</p><p>They just need to learn how to ask AI the right way.</p><p>Today&#8217;s lesson is simple: one small change to your prompt can transform AI from giving generic answers into becoming a helpful work assistant.</p><h2>The 8:00 AM Problem</h2><p>It&#8217;s Monday morning.</p><p>A project manager opens an AI chat and types:</p><p><em>Write a project update email.</em></p><p>Within seconds, AI responds with three polished paragraphs.</p><p>The problem?</p><p>It could have been written for any company, any manager, and any project.</p><p>Pressed for time, the manager copies it anyway.</p><p>The email sounds professional&#8212;but it doesn&#8217;t sound like them.</p><p>The team notices.</p><h2>Why This Happens</h2><p>AI isn&#8217;t bad at writing.</p><p>It simply doesn&#8217;t know:</p><ul><li><p>Who you are</p></li><li><p>Who you&#8217;re writing to</p></li><li><p>What tone you want</p></li><li><p>What outcome you&#8217;re trying to achieve</p></li></ul><p>Without that context, AI fills in the blanks with generic language.</p><p>Give it the right context, and everything changes.</p><h2>Today&#8217;s Prompt</h2><p>Use this simple template whenever you need help writing for work.</p><p><strong>Starter Prompt</strong></p><p>Act as a <strong>[yo&#8230;</strong></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[ The 5 Golden Rules of Prompting at Work]]></title><description><![CDATA[Episode 2]]></description><link>https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-5-golden-rules-of-prompting-at</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/p/the-5-golden-rules-of-prompting-at</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[AI for Professionals]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 08:36:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_webp, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png" width="1008" height="1040" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1040,&quot;width&quot;:1008,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1734140,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="/__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_424, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 424w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_848, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 848w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1272, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 1272w, /__u/substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2uqP!, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/w_1456, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/c_limit, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/f_auto, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/q_auto:good, /__u/howtobuildagenticai.substack.com/fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0fb2e82d-f2dc-4e24-b7e5-3e5dc3c8c9b3_1008x1040.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>TL;DR:</strong> Five rules turn any vague work request into a prompt that gets you something usable on the first try, not the third.</p><p><strong>A request gets typed into AI with zero context &#8212; "write a proposal" &#8212; and the output is so generic it needs a full rewrite anyway, costing more time than writing it manually would have.</strong></p><p><strong>The 5 Golden Rules</strong></p><p><strong>1. Be Super Specific</strong> &#8212; format, length, tone, audience. </p><p>Don't just ask for an article. Define the exact <strong>format</strong>, target <strong>length</strong>, required <strong>tone</strong>, and precise <strong>audience</strong>.</p><ul><li><p>&#8203;<em>Example:</em> "Write a 300-word post for mid-career software engineers in a conversational but deeply technical tone."</p></li></ul><p><strong>2. Give Examples</strong> &#8212; paste a past deck, email, or doc in your style.</p><p>AI excels at pattern recognition. If you want it to write, code, or analyze like you do, feed it your past work first. Paste a previous newsletter, a well-structured email, or a piece of code and say, <em>"Adopt this exact style and structure."</em></p><p> <strong>3. Iterate &amp; Refine</strong> &#8212; start short, then sharpen in follow-ups. </p><p>Never try to get the perfec&#8230;</p>
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