Design Patterns for AI Agents
Elements of Reusable Human Organization for AI Agents
James Harmon
About the book
Every AI agent architecture that works in production already has a name, an ancestor, and a few centuries of operating experience behind it. This is a catalog of thirty of them. Each pattern pairs a structure humans have used for generations, the assembly line, the chain of command, the jury, the writers’ room, the fire brigade, with the agent system that reinvented it, and tells you when to reach for it, what it costs in tokens, and the real deployments that prove it works. Written for the leaders and builders deciding how their organization’s AI should be organized, in the tradition of the classic Design Patterns that shaped a generation of software.
What's inside
Thirty patterns. Each one pairs a human organizational structure with the agent system that reinvented it, and tells you when to use it, what it costs in tokens, and the real deployments that prove it works.
Who it's for
Leaders and builders deciding how their organization's AI should be organized.
About the author
Independent consultant and trainer based in the Chicago area, specializing in the Anthropic Claude ecosystem. Author of Design Patterns for AI Agents. Over 20 years building software for companies including JPMorgan Chase, State Farm and Foot Locker. Runs XoSelf.
Train your team on these patterns
The patterns in this book are the ones taught in the agents course, built and run against your own work.
See the course