AI Appliances: AI Agents and Agencies in YAML

O'Reilly Media has published 'AI Appliances: Build & Deploy Autonomous AI Agents and Agencies in YAML,' a book by kdeps that teaches developers to create and deploy autonomous AI agents and multi-agent systems using YAML configuration files. The book covers the kdeps framework, including workflow and agent modes, LLM resources, browser automation, and multi-agent agencies, with practical examples and a focus on production-ready deployment.

AI Appliances: Build & Deploy Autonomous AI Agents and Agencies in YAML - About This Book - How This Book Is Organized - Code Conventions Chapter 1: Why AI Appliances? - The Prototype Problem - The AI Appliance Model - What Makes Production AI Hard - Two Modes, One Workflow File - Who Is kdeps For? - No Lock-In, By Design - Built to Last - If You Are Coming From Another Framework - What You Will Build in This Book Chapter 2: Getting Started - Installing kdeps - The Local LLM Comes Built In - Creating Your First Project - The Workflow Entry Point - Adding an LLM Resource - Adding a Response Resource - Running the Workflow - How the Execution Flows - Hot Reload for Development - What You Just Built Chapter 3: Core Concepts - Resources: The Unit of Work - The DAG: Dependency-Ordered Execution - The Data Store: get and set - Workflow Mode vs. Agent Mode - Backends: Separating Model from Execution - Expressions: The Glue - Putting It Together Chapter 4: Workflow Mode - Starting a Workflow - Request Lifecycle - Declaring Dependencies with requires: - Parallel Execution - Validation - The before: and after: Blocks - Designing Effective DAGs - A Real-World Example: Document Q&A Pipeline - Multiple Routes on One Workflow - What Workflow Mode Is Not Chapter 5: Agent Mode - Starting Agent Mode - What the LLM Sees - Single Workflow vs. Folder Mode - Tool Inputs and Outputs - A Practical Example: Research Assistant - Tool Names Matter - Built-In Agent Tools - Agent Registries In-Memory - Approval Tokens - REPL Slash Commands - Skills - Session Persistence - Mixing Modes: The Two-Layer Architecture - Limitations and Trade-offs - Next Steps Chapter 6: LLM Resources - Basic Usage - Full Configuration Reference - Structured JSON Output - System Prompts - Multi-Turn Conversations - tools: — Function Calling Resource-Based Tools - componentTools: — Component-Based Tools - Timeouts - Configuring Backends - Environment Variables in Config - Sampling Parameters - Vision Multimodal Input - Model Routing - Streaming Ollama - Chain-of-Thought and Few-Shot Selection - Provider-Specific Options - Choosing the Right Model - The Output Chapter 7: Data Resources - SQL Resource - HTTP Client Resource - Python Resource - Exec Resource - Combining Data Resources - Email Resource Chapter 8: Knowledge Resources - Scraper Resource - Search Resources - Embedding Resource Chapter 9: Browser Automation - Why a Real Browser - Basic Usage - Browser Engines - Actions - Authentication: Logging In - Session Persistence - Full Example: Extracting a Dynamic Dashboard - Headless vs. Headed Mode - Performance Considerations - When to Use Browser vs. Scraper vs. httpClient Chapter 10: API Response and Validation - The API Response Resource - Validations - The onError Block - Practical: A Complete API with Proper Validation Chapter 11: Expressions and Data Flow - Two Syntaxes - The Data Store Functions - Standard Library - Helper Functions - before: and after: Patterns - Practical: Data Pipeline with Expressions - The input Object Shorthand - Inline Resources in before: and after: - Jinja2 YAML Preprocessing - Common Mistakes Chapter 12: Components - Why Components - Registry Components - Components as LLM Tools - Custom Components - Design Principles for Components - The Component Registry at kdeps.io - Publishing to the Registry Chapter 13: Agencies — Multi-Agent Systems - Why Agencies - Directory Structure - The Agency Manifest - Calling One Agent from Another - A Complete Multi-Agent Example - Running the Agency - Packed Agent Archives - Packaging the Entire Agency .kagency - Independent Deployment - Agency Design Principles Chapter 14: Workflow Configuration - Top-Level Structure - metadata - apiServer - agentSettings - sqlConnections - A Production-Ready workflow.yaml - Environment Variable Best Practices Chapter 15: Sessions, CORS, and Route Restrictions - Sessions - Persistent Memory - CORS - Route and Method Restrictions - Putting It Together: A Stateful API Chapter 16: Advanced Configuration - Persistent Memory Configuration - Rate Limiting - Trusted Proxies - TLS - Authentication - Security Headers - Body Size and Concurrency Limits - Request Body Size Preflight - Resource Output Caps - The Request Object - Health Endpoints - Per-Agent Config Profiles - Provider-Specific Chat Options - Production Security Checklist Chapter 17: Docker Deployment - The Two-Step Build - Packaging - Building Docker Images - Running the Docker Image - Pushing to a Registry - Environment Configuration Patterns - Image Size Optimization - CI/CD Integration Chapter 18: Kubernetes Deployment - Generating Manifests - What Gets Generated - Command Reference - Adding Secrets and Config - Persistent Storage - Exposing the Agent - Health Checks - NetworkPolicy Opt-In - Resource Limits - Horizontal Pod Autoscaling - Complete Production Setup - Updating a Deployment Chapter 19: Standalone Binary - Overview - How It Works - Supported Architectures - Typical Workflow - Running the Prepackaged Binary - Edge Device Deployment - Embedding the Model: —include-models - Air-Gapped Environments - Systemd Service - Pinning the Runtime Version - Comparing Deployment Targets Chapter 20: WebServer Mode - Why WebServer Mode - Basic Configuration - Static File Serving - Subprocess Proxy Mode - The Request Routing Logic - Production: Building the Frontend In - WebSockets - Development Workflow - Example: Full-Stack Agent with Dashboard Chapter 21: Validate, Debug, and Develop - kdeps validate - kdeps doctor - Hot-Reload Development Mode - Debugging Resource Execution - FAQ and Common Problems - Logging and Observability - The Management API Chapter 22: Iteration — items and loop - items: — For-Each Iteration - loop: — While-Loop Iteration - items vs. loop: Choosing the Right Tool Chapter 23: Error Handling with onError - The Default: Fail Loud - onError: Syntax - The Three Actions - The error Object - Conditional Error Handling with when: - Practical Patterns - Error Handling vs. Validation Chapter 24: Real-World Examples - Example 1: Customer Support Bot Multi-Turn - Example 2: Document Processing Pipeline - Example 3: Autonomous Research Agency - Example 4: Content Moderation API - Example 5: Telegram Bot Chapter 25: Bot and File Input Sources - Three Input Sources - Bot Source - The botReply: Resource - File Input Source - Choosing an Input Source Appendix A: Troubleshooting - Resource Did Not Execute - get Returns null - Validation Always Fails or Never Fires - LLM Does Not See Context From a Previous Resource - DAG Cycle Error - Session Not Persisting Between Requests - HTTP Request Returns 500 With No Useful Message - Expression Evaluation Error: “undefined: X” - Resource Runs But Output Is Empty or Wrong Shape - kdeps validate Passes But Runtime Fails - Deployment: Docker Image Starts But Agent Returns Errors - Getting More Information Appendix B: Security - Secrets Management - Prompt Injection - Authentication and Authorization - Transport Security TLS - Rate Limiting for Abuse Prevention - Input Validation as a Security Boundary - SQL Injection - Multi-Tenant Isolation - Logging and Audit Trails - Security Checklist for Production Deployments Appendix C: Testing Your Agent - What You Can Test Deterministically - What Requires Human Judgment or Statistical Evaluation - Smoke Testing With curl - Shell-Based Integration Test Script - Testing With --dev Hot Reload - Testing Validation Rules - Testing Session Persistence - Testing onError Paths - Testing Agent Mode Tool Selection - CI/CD Integration - What Not to Test About the Author Resources Quick Reference - Key Commands - Resource Types Summary - Expression Quick Reference - Deployment Comparison