sidekick on AWS 10 tips about AI agents, explained with pizza, playlists and group projects Kashif Mehmood No robots were harmed in the making of this talk. Think of it like... A superhero sidekick. You are the hero, it carries the gadgets and does the boring stuff.
1 2 3 Perfect. You're in exactly the console things for fun right room. ...and closed the tab before Respect. Please don't break my anything got billed. demo. Never touched AWS Clicked around the I deploy and break Think of it like... Your turn in chat The first day of a group project: everyone says who they are Also type where you're before the real work. joining from Cameras optional. Enthusiasm mandatory.
C. Clarke Today we peek behind the curtain. Think of it like... Your turn in chat A magic trick: amazing until someone shows you the hidden Guess: how many parts pocket. Then you can do it too. make an agent? Spoiler: the magic is mostly well organized text.
brain The LLM + The hands Tools + The notebook Memory Thinks, plans and decides Web search, code, a browser, Remembers what happened what to do next. APIs. before. Think of it like... A chef: the brain picks the recipe, the hands chop, the notebook remembers who hates onions. A brain with no hands has great ideas and never does the dishes. Your turn in chat Thumbs up if this clicks
a pizza recipe. Checks your fridge Then you do all the work: shopping, cooking, timing, Orders the cheese cleaning. Sets the oven timer Think of it like... Your turn in chat A cookbook vs a personal chef. Both know the recipe. Only one One chore you'd hand to an turns on the oven. agent? One talks about pizza. The other gets you pizza.
3 4 Make the brain Ship it fast Keep it safe Build a team, smarter Tips 3 and 4 Tips 5, 6 and 7 test the team Tips 1 and 2 Tips 8, 9 and 10 Think of it like... Your turn in chat A pizza with 4 slices. Eat them in order, and the bonus is the Guess which part has a extra dip. dashcam: 1 to 4 Four slices. No pineapple debate today, I promise.
1 and 2: thinking and caching Chat poll: how often do you chat with an AI? Type 1 = daily, 2 = sometimes, 3 = never (yet) Think of it like... Sending the brain to the gym before the big game: same brain, better habits. Leg day for large language models.
calls Interleaved thinking Search Think Run code Think Answer On newer models, adaptive thinking turns this on for you. Tool search tool loads only the tools it needs, not the whole toolbox. Think of it like... Your turn in chat A chef who tastes the soup after each spice, and only carries the Guess the analogy before I knives for tonight’s dish. reveal it No chef needs 47 knives to make toast.
Bedroc k can cost up to 90% less. Caching: fixed stuff first The cache only matches from the very start. Change the first thing and everything after it counts as new. Good order Rules Docs Examples Bad order Date Rules Docs Question Cache hit Question Cache miss Think of it like... Your turn in chat A playlist that forgets where you were if the first song changes. Type 1 if you've ever put the Same songs, back to the start. date first Today's date is lovely. Just not in first place.
and 4: from your laptop to AWS React with a rocket if you have ever put anything live on the internet. Even a school website counts. Think of it like... Going from cooking in your own kitchen to opening a food truck. Same recipe, now anyone can order. From “works on my laptop” to “works on AWS”.
in 4 commands Works with Strands, LangGraph, CrewAI an $ npm install -g @aws/agentcore Install the app (once) $ agentcore create Pick your meal (new project) $ agentcore dev Taste it (on your laptop) $ agentcore deploy Place the order (live on AWS) Think of it like... Ordering food delivery: install the app, pick your meal, taste a sample, place the order. Optional step 5: tell everyone you shipped to production. d more. Your turn in chat Rate this analogy 1 to 5
builds it Runtime Memory agentcore.json What you want: your agent, its memory, its tools. AWS CDK code Real infrastructure code, Gateway Evaluations written for you. Policy Think of it like... Describing your dream house. The architect draws the blueprint, the builders follow it. Nobody has ever said “I love typing infrastructure by hand”. Your turn in chat Type 1 if CDK is new to you
6 and 7: playgrounds, dashcams and tunnels Type “oops” in chat if you have ever pushed a password to GitHub. We won’t judge. Much. Think of it like... A new driver’s first week: a learner’s permit, a dashcam, and a safe route home. An agent with hands needs a few house rules.
1. Sandbox 2. Public 3. VPC No internet Open internet Only your private network A playpen: it can’t wander off. An open park: more fun, more Your fenced backyard. strangers. Think of it like... Your turn in chat Playgrounds: a playpen (Sandbox), an open park (Public), your Pick a mode for homework: fenced backyard (VPC). 1, 2 or 3 Never give a toddler, or an AI, the car keys on day one.
browse, live cheap-pizza.example.com REC Each session runs in its own isolated cloud browse r. Live view Watch every click as it happens. Session recording Order Now Replay it later to see what went wrong. Think of it like... A dashcam for your agent. Something weird happened? Rewind the tape, don’t guess. Finally, proof of who clicked “Accept all cookies”. Your turn in chat Rate this analogy 1 to 5
private data Public internet Your agent: AgentCore VPC connection: a private tunnel, no public internet Runtime Your private database: Amazon RDS Think of it like... Your turn in chat A secret tunnel from your dorm to the library. No walking outside Type 1 if VPC was a new in the rain. word today Private data stays private. Like your search history.
team Tips 8, 9 and 10: LEGO, group projects and fake users Chat poll: in group projects, are you... 1 = the leader, 2 = the doer, 3 = the moral support? Think of it like... A pizza kitchen: one takes orders, one makes dough, one runs the oven. Finally, a group project where everyone does their part.
3 lines Open Source By AWS TypeScript too: @strands-agents/sdk Prompt from strands import Agent Tools agent = Agent() agent("Explain the cloud like I am 10") Model Think of it like... Your turn in chat LEGO. Start with one brick, the model, then snap on tools, a Your idea: Explain ___ like I prompt and memory. am 10 Shorter than your last message to the group chat.
a team 1. Agents as Tools 2. Workflow 3. Graph 4. Swarm 5. A2A protocol A lead agent calls the Fixed steps, same order Steps with loops Work passes freely Different systems talk others Research, write, then Teacher says no? Redo Hackathon at 3 a.m. Two schools, one The leader hands out edit slide 3 project tasks Think of it like... Your turn in chat Every group project you have ever survived, except the agents Your group project: type 1 to never ghost the group chat. 5 Swarm is also how every group chat plans a birthday.
is played Test with fake users first Fake user AI too. Can I move my exam? Sure. Which course? Profile: busy student, hates long answers by an Cloud 101. Quick pls Goal: move my exam to next week Done: moved to Friday. Goal reached in 2 turns Think of it like... A flight simulator, or a mock interview: crash in practice, not in front of real people. Fake users never leave 1-star reviews. Real ones do. Your turn in chat Rate this analogy 1 to 5
AgentCore Harness is Web Search tool on Kiro replaced GA AgentCore Amazon Q Developer Build agents from config, not Your agent can search the web, And Kiro now has an iOS app. piles of code. built in. Think of it like... A phone update overnight: same phone in the morning, a bunch of new tricks. Blink and AWS ships three more features. Your turn in chat Type the one you'd try first
models and S3 Annotations Things move fast Codex on Bedrock Up to 1 GB of searchable context Check the AWS What’s New page Available in limited preview. per object. before you build. Think of it like... Your turn in chat A cafeteria menu that changes every week. Check the board Which one surprised you before you order. most? By the time you read this slide, there’s probably a new one.
is cheap. Show me the code.” Linus Torvalds 1 2 3 4 Set an AWS Enable a Claude Run the 3-line agentcore create, Budgets alarm model in Bedrock Strands snippet then deploy FIRST Your agent’s brain. Your first agent says hi. Now it lives on AWS. So one typo doesn’t eat your pizza money. Think of it like... Your turn in chat Trying a new recipe: set the timer first, then cook, taste, and Type the tip number you'd serve. try first Skipping step 1 is how pizza money becomes cloud money.
demo, a repo, or a spectacular failure: all welcome. LinkedIn GitHub @kashif-mehmood-km @kashif-e Think of it like... Your turn in chat A study group chat that keeps going after class. Bring your Paste your GitHub or questions, and your memes. LinkedIn Broken demos are the best kind of learning. Send them my way.
or unmute, whatever feels comfy. Think of it like... Office hours, except nobody has to walk across campus in the rain. If you wondered it, someone else did too. Tips inspired by “10 Tips of AWS: Gen AI on AWS” by Masaki Tsukada, JAWS-UG Yokohama #100 (April 2026)
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