Practical OpenAI SDK: Building AI Agents and Workflows

Integrating artificial intelligence into modern software is no longer a futuristic concept—it is a core requirement for modern developers. Understanding how to interact with the OpenAI API programmatically allows you to move beyond simple chat prompts and build dynamic, self-driven applications. This text-only course guides you from the absolute basics of API communication to designing structured AI agent workflows. You will learn how to connect language models to external tools, manage state, and build robust backend services that leverage intelligent decision-making. What you'll learn: Understand the foundational concepts of the OpenAI SDK, API authentication, and rate limits; Master prompt engineering principles specifically optimized for programmatic API calls; Implement function calling to connect language models with external database queries and APIs; Design structured outputs to ensure consistent JSON responses from your AI models; Build autonomous AI agent workflows that can plan, execute, and verify tasks; Integrate basic retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns to ground your agent's knowledge. We begin by establishing key terminology, setting up your environment, and making your first API calls. From there, you will progress through structured text explanations and curated code patterns to construct complete, multi-step agentic workflows. This course is designed for aspiring developers and tech enthusiasts who want to build AI-powered services. No prior experience with the OpenAI SDK is required, though a basic understanding of programming concepts will help you get the most out of the written examples. Start reading today to unlock the potential of programmatic AI and build your first intelligent agent.