eCornell's Agentic AI Architecture course, with a session starting March 18, 2026, bridges the gap between AI that thinks and AI that acts. This comprehensive program teaches participants to build AI agents—large language models equipped with tools, memory, and reasoning capabilities—that can execute workflows autonomously.
The course covers core components of agents including the model, system prompt, tools, and memory, while exploring practical architectural patterns such as prompt chaining, routing, parallelization, orchestrator–worker designs, and reflection loops. Participants learn how agents communicate with one another through protocols and handoffs, with special focus on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which enables building and consuming standardized tool interfaces.
Through progressive hands-on projects, learners develop everything from focused AI workflows to fully autonomous agents capable of tackling open-ended objectives. The course also includes modules on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), teaching participants to master the industry-standard architecture for giving AI access to proprietary knowledge. Advanced techniques covered include RAG over relational databases (Text-to-SQL) and GraphRAG, enabling production-ready applications that ground AI responses in trusted information while dramatically reducing hallucinations.[citation:5]