How the hell to build an agentic development platform?
2026-07-17
How the hell to build an agentic development platform?
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AND reminder that my friends at Tailscale are organizing an awesome conference - TailscaleUp! There are still some tickets available, so take a look. They’ll be in San Francisco on August 26, 2026! It’s gonna be a banger. They’re going to be dissecting and sharing the lessons from their 20k customers through a bunch of great talks and workshops. Few things more important than networking and security at the moment. And there is prob no better place to be for it;)
"How the hell am I gonna build an ADP?"
I’ve been talking about Agentic Development Platforms (ADPs) nonstop the last month. You’ve probably noticed. ADPs are the platform that lets your engineers and AI agents build software together, safely, with guardrails. We covered them extensively at PlatformCon, in our review newsletter, and in Ajay’s guest newsletter last week. The response from everyone has been incredible. I’ve received so many replies. But there is one sliver of doubt that keeps getting slivered back to me - "I don't even have a good IDP yet, or an effective AI initiative in my org. How the hell am I gonna do this?"
Fair question. If the PlatformCon deluge settled anything, it's that the ADP is where our discipline is heading. But recognizing the future and knowing what to do about it on Monday morning are two VERY different things. Some of the industry seems to be sprinting, and the other half is still trying to get one golden path adopted.
So how do you close this gap? You close it the way our community has always closed gaps… by learning the discipline properly, step by step, from the foundations up.
That is how you secure your place in the AI future. And ride this insane wave.
Remember - an ADP is your IDP evolved, not replaced. Three layers, the tooling you already run, the path definitions that humans and agents both invoke, and a new agent infrastructure substrate underneath. If you can build and reason about those layers, you aren't the person threatened by this new paradigm, you’re the person who makes it work.
That’s why, that is exactly the journey the new AI learning path on Platform Engineering University walks you through, taught by Mallory Haigh, who some of you caught on the New York main stage at PlatformCon. And it is built for the "I'm not there yet" reality, because it starts from wherever you actually are:
Intro to Agentic Development Platforms (free, 1 hour, on-demand). Start here, even if your IDP is still a work in progress. Four modules: the IDP to ADP architecture shift, the three layers, designing probabilistic, deterministic, and hybrid paths that keep agents on track, and where to start building, including how to measure outcomes over your first 90 days.
Agentic Development Platforms. The core of this path, and your real next step. Evolve the IDP you have (yes, the imperfect one) into an ADP that makes coding agents safe, governed, and productive at enterprise scale. This is where the concepts become your architecture. You will work through what it takes to design the paths that agents consume, put the guardrails and governance in place, and treat agents as first-class users of your platform (without losing control of cost, security, or quality along the way..)
Agent Infrastructure for Platform Engineers (instructor-led, starts November 12). For when you’re ready to go all the way in: a hands-on build of the harness and governance plane that agents actually run on. The advanced step once the ADP course is under your belt.
Notice what that sequence actually is. It is the answer to the question. You do not need a perfect IDP or a board-approved AI strategy to start. You need one free hour to understand the architecture, then a structured way to evolve what you have.
AI is reshaping our industry all around us. And platform engineering is the foundation to do it effectively, and safely. There is no greater opportunity for you and your org.
So, how the hell are you gonna do this? One hour at a time. What are you waiting for?
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