Practical overview
When it fits
Use it when you want a structured introduction to AI-agent development and need examples spanning multiple documented frameworks and Microsoft Foundry-related tools.
Who it is for
- Developers starting with AI-agent development
- Learners seeking notebook-based tutorials
- Practitioners exploring AutoGen or Semantic Kernel
- Readers interested in Microsoft Foundry-oriented agent materials
Documented uses
- Learn core concepts involved in building AI agents
- Study agentic RAG through guided lessons
- Explore AI-agent development with AutoGen and Semantic Kernel
- Review Foundry and Foundry Local learning materials
- Use code examples as a starting point for hands-on study
Requirements & limits
The repository is publicly accessible on GitHub and is identified as MIT-licensed. The README provides cloning instructions and code examples in the repository's code_samples folder.
- Choose it for learning material rather than a hosted agent runtime or ready-made application.
- Its 18 lessons cover multiple ecosystems, which is useful for comparison but may require selecting the framework relevant to your project.
- Jupyter Notebook is identified as the primary language, so the learning experience is centered on notebooks and accompanying code examples.
- The repository includes more than 50 language translations; sparse checkout can exclude translation directories when a smaller local download is preferred.
- The README says lessons can be started wherever you like, supporting topic-driven study.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Clone a smaller local copy of the course
Obtain the course repository while excluding its translation directories.
Before you start
- Git
- A Bash-compatible terminal on macOS or Linux, or Windows CMD
- The repository URL
Steps
Clone the repository with Git's blob filtering and sparse-checkout options.
Change into the ai-agents-for-beginners directory.
Set sparse checkout to include the repository contents while excluding translations and translated_images.
Expected outcome
A local copy containing the course materials without the translation directories.
Guide limitations
- This procedure addresses repository download only; it does not document installation of lesson dependencies or execution of the notebooks.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 2 October 2026
- Original website title
- microsoft/ai-agents-for-beginners · Official homepage title · retained in its source language

