Agentic AI Software Engineering

Best Practices for Modern Development

Implementing AI-Powered Development with Cursor, MCP, and Advanced Models

64% Claude 3.5 Success Rate
80% Developer Time with AI
40min Presentation Duration

Introduction to Agentic AI

Paradigm Shift

Agentic AI represents a paradigm shift from traditional automation to intelligent, autonomous systems capable of reasoning, adapting, and collaborating.

Traditional AI

  • Rule-based automation
  • Predefined workflows
  • Limited adaptability
  • Human-driven decisions

Agentic AI

  • Autonomous reasoning
  • Adaptive problem-solving
  • Context-aware decisions
  • Goal-oriented behavior
64%

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

vs 38% for Claude 3 Opus

coding problem success rate
80%

Developer Time with AI

vs 20% manual coding

senior engineer interactions

Prompt Engineering Best Practices

Core Principles

Specificity over Brevity

Clear, detailed instructions yield better results than concise but ambiguous prompts

Clear Delimiters

Use ### headers and formatting to structure your instructions effectively

Show-and-Tell

Provide examples alongside instructions for better AI understanding

Chain-of-Thought

Guide complex reasoning with step-by-step thinking processes

Prompt Examples

❌ Poor Prompt

Write code for user authentication

✅ Effective Prompt

Create a secure user authentication system using JWT tokens. Include: ### Requirements - Login/logout endpoints - Password hashing with bcrypt - Token expiration (24 hours) - Input validation ### Output Format - Express.js middleware functions - Error handling with proper HTTP status codes

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Universal Standard for AI Integration

Model Context Protocol provides a standardized way to connect AI systems with external data sources and tools, enabling seamless integration across different platforms.

Architecture Overview

Client

AI Applications

Cursor, VS Code
↔

Protocol

Standardized Communication

MCP Standard
↔

Server

Data Sources & Tools

APIs, Databases

Key Capabilities

🔧 Tools

Execute functions and interact with external systems

💎 Prompts

Share reusable prompt templates across applications

📊 Resources

Access and manipulate data from various sources

Security Considerations

🔒 Only use trusted MCP servers
⚙ïļ Review publisher configurations
ðŸ›Ąïļ Understand code execution permissions

AI Model Comparison

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

64% Success Rate

Strengths

  • Superior coding performance
  • Complex instruction handling
  • Fast execution
Best for: Software development, code generation

Gemini 2.5

LMArena Leader

Strengths

  • Advanced reasoning
  • Thinking models
  • Multi-step problem solving
Best for: Complex reasoning, mathematical problems

GPT-4

128K Context

Strengths

  • Versatile performance
  • Large context window
  • Improved safety
Best for: General-purpose applications, large document processing

TDD as Fitness Functions

Evolutionary Programming Analogy

Test-Driven Development serves as fitness functions in evolutionary algorithms, guiding AI code generation toward optimal solutions.

Traditional Fitness Functions

Quantitative evaluation of candidate solutions in genetic algorithms

85% Fitness

TDD Fitness Functions

Test cases as evolutionary guardrails for AI-generated code

✓ 12 tests ✗ 3 tests

Benefits of TDD-Guided AI Development

ðŸŽŊ Precision Validation

Architectural constraints are precisely validated through automated testing

📚 Behavioral Documentation

Test cases serve as clear behavioral documentation for AI interpretation

🔍 Error Localization

Failed tests provide targeted feedback for AI code iteration

LLM Creativity vs Classical AI Precision

ðŸŽĻ Creative Exploration (LLM)

85%+ Idea generation creativity scores
64% Ambiguity resolution success rate
∞ Cross-domain synthesis potential

⚡ Predictable Execution (Classical AI)

99.999% Rule-based accuracy
40x Optimization efficiency vs LLM
Ξs Real-time deterministic response

Integration Architecture

1. LLM Frontend

Natural language interpretation and creative problem exploration

→

2. Rule-Based Orchestrator

Plan decomposition with safety guardrails and validation

→

3. Classical AI Backend

Deterministic execution with optimized performance

Implementation Best Practices

🏗ïļ Architecture Principles

  • Start with simplest solutions
  • Modular and interoperable design
  • Microservices-based agent architecture
  • Event-driven communication patterns

🔧 Essential Tools

  • Cursor for AI-powered development
  • MCP servers for tool integration
  • Custom rules and documentation
  • Automated testing frameworks

ðŸ›Ąïļ Security & Reliability

  • Define clear security boundaries
  • Integrate security scanning pipelines
  • Implement robust error handling
  • Plan fallback mechanisms

📈 Optimization Strategies

  • Monitor performance metrics
  • Implement caching layers
  • Use batch processing where appropriate
  • Optimize for both speed and accuracy

Key Takeaways & Next Steps

🚀 Embrace Agentic AI

Move beyond traditional automation to systems that can reason, adapt, and collaborate autonomously.

📝 Master Prompt Engineering

Invest time in learning effective prompting techniques - they're the foundation of successful AI collaboration.

🔌 Leverage MCP

Use Model Context Protocol to create seamless integrations between AI systems and your existing tools.

⚖ïļ Balance Creativity & Precision

Combine LLM creativity with classical AI precision for robust, reliable systems.

Upcoming: Docker Container Demonstration

In the next few minutes, we'll demonstrate these concepts in practice by running Erlang-based agent systems in Docker containers.

🔄 Preparing containers...

Questions & Discussion

Thank you for your attention. I'm ready to discuss any questions about agentic AI implementation, best practices, or the upcoming demonstration.