🤖 My OpenAI Agents SDK Learning Journey

A hands-on, teaching-by-doing path to mastering the OpenAI Agents SDK.

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📖 About This Repository

This repository documents my comprehensive learning journey through the OpenAI Agents SDK, following a hands-on, teaching-by-doing approach. As I master each concept, I create my own explanations, examples, and projects to solidify understanding and help fellow learners.

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🎯 Learning Philosophy

"The best way to learn is to teach." — Richard Feynman

I believe in learning through active creation and explanation. This repo captures not just what I've learned, but how I learned it — including challenges, breakthroughs, and real applications.

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🙏 Acknowledgments & Attribution

This journey is inspired by @mjunaidca's agents-sdk-decoded — a brilliant expert-level educational resource.

🔍 What Makes My Approach Different

• 📝 Personal explanations in my own words
• 🎯 Focused on practical understanding
• 🚀 Live examples built step-by-step
• 📊 Documenting the learning process
• 💡 Beginner-friendly + real-world mindset

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🧭 Learning Objectives

By the end of this journey, I aim to:

• ✅ Master the OpenAI Agents SDK from fundamentals to advanced patterns
• ✅ Build production-ready agentic applications
• ✅ Understand the DACA framework for scalable systems
• ✅ Create developer-friendly documentation
• ✅ Help others learn agentic AI — one concept at a time

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🗂️ Repository Structure

.
├── 📁 modules/
│   ├── 📁 01_agents/
│   ├── 📁 02_runner/
│   ├── 📁 03_results/
│   ├── 📁 04_stream/
│   ├── 📁 05_tools/
│   ├── 📁 06_handoffs/           # NEW: Advanced handoff, input filtering, callbacks, prompt engineering
│   ├── 📁 07_lifecycle/          # NEW: Agent lifecycle hooks, monitoring, analytics
│   ├── 📁 08_exceptions/         # In Progress: Exception handling, error flows
│   ├── 📁 09_guardrails/         # In Progress: Guardrails, input validation, safety
│   └── 📁 projects/
│       ├── 📁 01_fantasy_world_generator/
│       ├── 📁 02_university_helpdesk_orchestration/   # NEW: Advanced multi-agent orchestration project
│       └── 📄 README.md
├── 🚫 .gitignore
├── 📄 .python-version
├── 🐍 main.py
├── 📋 pyproject.toml
├── 📖 README.md
├── 🔒 uv.lock
├── 📄 .env.example
├── 📄 LICENSE

Note: Each module and project contains its own README for detailed explanations, code summaries, and learning notes.

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📈 Progress Tracker

Module/Section	Status
🚀 01_agents	✅ Completed Core agent patterns, context, instructions, structured outputs, advanced orchestration, tool behavior control, agent handoffs
⚡ 02_runner	✅ Completed Agent execution, RunResult exploration, execution lifecycle, synchronous execution, streaming patterns, real-time event processing, advanced context, handoffs, chat, exceptions
📊 03_results	✅ Completed RunResult basics, results handling, and multi-turn conversation management
📡 04_stream	✅ Completed Advanced streaming patterns, real-time events, token-by-token streaming, run item events, and streaming with agent handoffs
🔧 05_tools	✅ Completed Function tools, custom configurations, agents as tools, error handling, context-aware tools, advanced tool choice patterns
🤝 06_handoffs	✅ Completed Advanced handoff orchestration, input filtering, callbacks, structured handoff data, prompt engineering
🔄 07_lifecycle	✅ Completed Agent lifecycle hooks, monitoring, analytics, session management, performance tracking
🚨 08_exceptions	🚧 In Progress Exception handling, error flows, advanced error management
🛡️ 09_guardrails	🚧 In Progress Guardrails, input validation, safety, compliance
🧩 Projects	🚀 Started: Real-world agentic applications and showcases
...	...

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🗃️ Projects

The modules/projects/ folder contains real-world, showcase projects that demonstrate advanced agentic workflows, tool integrations, and creative applications using the OpenAI Agents SDK.

Featured Projects

• Fantasy World Generator: An interactive multi-agent system that builds a fantasy world, including magic systems, maps, lore, and magical creatures. Demonstrates agent orchestration, agents-as-tools, streaming, and creative AI workflows.
• University Smart Helpdesk Orchestrator: A real-world multi-agent system simulating a university helpdesk. Features advanced orchestration, context-aware routing, escalation handling, streaming UX, and smart agent handoffs. Demonstrates context models, escalation logic, and real-time agent transitions.

See each project's README for setup and usage instructions.

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🆕 Recent Advanced Additions

• Agent Handoffs & Input Filtering: See modules/06_handoffs/ for advanced handoff orchestration, input filtering, callbacks, and prompt engineering.
• Agent Lifecycle Hooks & Monitoring: See modules/07_lifecycle/ for RunHooks, AgentHooks, session management, and analytics.
• Guardrails & Exception Handling: See modules/08_exceptions/ and modules/09_guardrails/ for in-progress work on error management and safety.
• University Helpdesk Orchestration Project: See modules/projects/02_university_helpdesk_orchestration/ for advanced multi-agent orchestration, escalation, and context-aware routing.
• All previous advanced streaming, tool integration, and orchestration features remain available in their respective modules.

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🛠️ Setup & Installation

📦 Prerequisites

• Python (version specified in .python-version)
• uv package manager installed
• .env file with OpenAI/Gemini/OpenRouter API keys

🚀 Quick Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ZohaibCodez/agents-sdk-from-zero.git
cd agents-sdk-from-zero

# Initialize environment
uv venv
.venv\Scripts\activate   # For Windows
# or
source .venv/bin/activate   # For macOS/Linux

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Copy environment variables
cp .env.example .env # Then add your API key inside

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🔧 Dev Environment Overview

• Python version: Managed by .python-version
• Dependency manager: uv (uv add, uv sync)
• Virtual environment: .venv/
• API secrets: Stored in .env file

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📈 Learning Methodology

1. Understand – Study SDK internals and examples
2. Apply – Build simplified working demos
3. Explain – Write markdown explanations and insights
4. Extend – Build real tools and integrations
5. Repeat – Keep iterating and improving

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🤝 Contributing & Feedback

This is a personal learning repo, but:

• 💬 Ask questions via GitHub Issues
• ✍️ Suggest improvements if you spot unclear parts
• 🌟 Star the repo if it helps — it motivates me to keep going!

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🎯 Final Goal: Master the OpenAI Agents SDK from foundation to production-ready apps.
📚 Philosophy: Learn deeply. Build consistently. Teach simply.

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🔗 Connect & Learn Together

• 📢 Follow this repo for updates
• 🤝 Let's build the Agentic future, one concept at a time

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📚 Learning Never Stops – This repository is a living record of my OpenAI Agents SDK mastery. Join me on the journey!

Last Updated: 2025-07-13