microsoft/AI Agents for Beginners
12 Lessons to Get Started Building AI Agents
AI Agents for Beginners is a free, open-source course by Microsoft that teaches the fundamentals of building AI agents across more than a dozen hands-on lessons. It pairs short videos with runnable Python notebooks, so you learn agent design by building rather than only reading.
Our Review
With more than 66,000 GitHub stars and 21,000 forks, AI Agents for Beginners is one of the most popular agent-building curricula on GitHub, maintained by Microsoft's developer-education team. It teaches agent concepts through runnable code rather than theory, and ships in over 50 languages via automated translation.
What the course covers:
- •Agent fundamentals intro to AI agents, real use cases, and when an agentic approach beats a single prompt.
- •Agentic design patterns tool use, planning, multi-agent collaboration, metacognition, and Agentic RAG, each as its own lesson.
- •Trustworthy and secure agents dedicated lessons on building safe, reliable agents and securing them for deployment.
- •Production and protocols running agents in production plus the newer agent protocols (MCP, A2A, and NLWeb) for tool and agent interoperability.
- •Context engineering and memory managing an agent's context window and persistent memory, two of the hardest parts of real agent work.
- •Hands-on Python notebooks every lesson ships code samples built on the Microsoft Agent Framework and Azure AI Foundry Agent Service.
How to use it:
Start at lesson one or jump to any topic, since each lesson is self-contained. Fork the repo, open the notebooks in the code_samples folder, and run them against Azure AI Foundry (an Azure account is required for the first-party examples). Some samples also support OpenAI-compatible providers. If you are new to LLMs, begin with the companion Generative AI for Beginners course. The full course lives at aka.ms/ai-agents-beginners.
Limitations:
The hands-on code leans on Microsoft's own stack, the Agent Framework and Azure AI Foundry, so following every example as written needs an Azure account, and the patterns are taught through that lens rather than a framework-neutral one. It is an educational course, not a library you import into production. A couple of advanced lessons (scalable deployment, local agents) are still marked coming soon, and the repo bundles 50+ translations, so clone with sparse checkout to avoid the bulk.
Our Verdict
AI Agents for Beginners is the most approachable on-ramp to agent development in 2026, and the Microsoft pedigree means the patterns are tested at scale rather than hobby-grade.
For Vibe Builders, the video-plus-notebook format lets you watch a concept and then run working code in minutes without assembling a toolchain yourself. The lessons on tool use, planning, and multi-agent patterns map directly onto the agents you will actually want to build.
For Developers, the real value is design-pattern coverage: Agentic RAG, metacognition, context engineering, memory, and the MCP, A2A, and NLWeb protocol lessons track where production agent work is heading in 2026. The code is Azure-flavored, but the patterns transfer to any framework.
Skip it if you want a framework-neutral tutorial with no cloud dependency, or if you are already shipping agents in production, because this is a foundations course rather than an advanced reference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Microsoft AI Agents for Beginners course free?
Yes, AI Agents for Beginners is completely free and open-source under the MIT license. Microsoft maintains it on GitHub, where it has more than 66,000 stars as of 2026. You only pay for Azure usage if you run the first-party code samples.
What will I learn in AI Agents for Beginners?
The course covers agent fundamentals and core design patterns including tool use, planning, multi-agent collaboration, Agentic RAG, metacognition, memory, and context engineering. It also covers production deployment and agent protocols like MCP and A2A. Every lesson includes Python code samples.
Do I need an Azure account to take the course?
You can read every lesson and watch the videos without an Azure account. To run the hands-on code samples as written, you need an Azure account because they use the Microsoft Agent Framework and Azure AI Foundry Agent Service. Some samples also support OpenAI-compatible providers.
Is AI Agents for Beginners good for complete beginners?
Yes, the course assumes no prior agent experience and is designed as a starting point. If you are also new to large language models, Microsoft recommends starting with its companion Generative AI for Beginners course first. Each lesson is self-contained, so you can start anywhere.
What programming language does the course use?
The code samples are written in Python and delivered as Jupyter notebooks, and they are built on the Microsoft Agent Framework with the Azure AI Foundry Agent Service. The written lessons are also available in more than 50 languages through automated GitHub Action translation, so you can follow the course in your own language.
What is AI Agents for Beginners?
AI Agents for Beginners is a free, open-source course by Microsoft that teaches the fundamentals of building AI agents across more than a dozen hands-on lessons. It pairs short videos with runnable Python notebooks, so you learn agent design by building rather than only reading.
How do I install AI Agents for Beginners?
Visit the GitHub repository at https://github.com/microsoft/ai-agents-for-beginners for installation instructions.
What license does AI Agents for Beginners use?
AI Agents for Beginners uses the MIT license.
What are alternatives to AI Agents for Beginners?
Explore related tools and alternatives on My AI Guide.
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MIT licensed: free to use in any project, no strings attached. 66,527 developers have starred this, meaning the community has reviewed and trusted it.
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