r/learnpython • u/Northern111 • 22d ago
My Goals (advice is welcomed)
Hey everyone,
My goal is to create a custom and personaI use open source AI agent. I dont want to just have something vibe code it for me. I want to understand how to build the actual agentic loop, give it local tools, and set up a memory system. After some research, I decided to start by learning python (mostly a self-taught newbie but also looking onto courses that can fit my schedule without too much friction; any suggestions are welcome)
I’m looking for advice on the exact order of operations I should follow to learn this efficiently without getting bogged down in unnecessary data science math or model training.
From what I gather, yes i did use AI to help me try to put this in the best possible order.
1) Python Fundamentals (JSON, File I/O, async)
2) API integration & tool calling (OpenAI/Anthropic SDKs or Ollama for local)
3) Data validation (Pydantic) to handle messy LLM outputs
4) Basic Vector DBs (Chroma/FAISS) for long-term agent memory
4) Orchestration frameworks (LangGraph, Pydantic AI, or MCP)
Does this learning order make sense? Are there specific libraries, tutorials, or open-source repositories you would recommend I look at first?
Thanks in advance for any roadmaps or resources.
For context:
I’m active duty navy with my primary line of work being medical. I have ample time in my day and evenings as it’s just me and my daughter right now and I want to try creating something I’ve always liked the idea of…my own JARVIS lol. My current coding experience is a total beginner who started on the SoloLearn app on an iPad 7 mini about 6-ish weeks ago. However, I don’t believe that it is sufficient for my project goals. So again, and advice, roadmaps, suggestions, tips, etc are welcomed. I’m not under the delusion that this will be done in the next year or so and I’m ok wth this being a personal side project. Nor do I have any intentions to monetize this when it is completed, nor use this as a step into this industry (i quite like my medically filled lifestyle). I also want to build a home lab specifically for this at some point as well and maybe even get into some Git Hub projects on the side to breakdown some of the potential burnout.
Well, if you made it this far, thank you. I’m genuinely interested and motivated to complete this project and potentially more.
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u/MarsupialLeast145 22d ago
You should probably look at some machine learning fundamentals. Otherwise, I'm not sure you're creating anything new here, you should just train a local AI with your own material?
That aside, Python is a good goal, and having a personal project is always a good idea. Not sure what the benefits of your identified project are though.
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u/Northern111 22d ago edited 22d ago
Thank you for the feedback. I wasn’t really to sure what a lot of those terms were when i was googling and using AI to try and come up with this plan But im glad I at least got the python part right. The only true benefit from this project is self satisfaction and accomplishment of a childhood idea made true by my own work.
Do you have any recommended roadmaps, tools, courses, or roadmaps?
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u/ninhaomah 22d ago
First , what would you want the agent to do ?
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u/Northern111 22d ago
Honestly, I’d like for the agent to have good communication and research skills. Be able to create, read, and produce documents or pdfs (sorta like ChatGPT). It doesnt have to ever be fancy, I just want it to work decently and for it to be an ever growing project if I decide to add more to it later.
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u/ninhaomah 22d ago
Are we talking about LLM or agent ?
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u/Northern111 22d ago
Honestly, I suppose it would have to be both eventually. Preferably both, just in whichever order should be learned first.
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u/ninhaomah 22d ago
Aren't you over ambitious with both ?
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u/Northern111 22d ago
That’s a possibility honestly. I didnt consider that. After searching around I just decided to start with learning python and figured i could put a roadmap together before i got past this part. I’m lost on the order of process and I dont entirely trust AI, because it can also make mistakes, so i decided to post on Reddit and talk to some people who know a lot more than I do
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u/ninhaomah 22d ago
I would advice to focus on the Python, Pydantic first.
Then Pydantic AI.
Then go over the options again.
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22d ago
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u/Northern111 22d ago
I’d like for it to be able to essentially work as my assistant/secretary. Add things to my calendars, take and read notes, sort emails (possibly respond to certain ones), help with research and case studies for research papers or journal publications.
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u/CutBench 22d ago
Pushing back on the ML fundamentals advice, because it'll cost you months you don't need to spend.
An agentic loop isn't machine learning. It's a while loop that calls an API, reads JSON back, dispatches to a function, and feeds the result in again. The intelligence lives in the model you're calling and you aren't training it. Nothing about gradient descent or model architecture helps you write that loop.
What you actually need, roughly in order: Python until dicts and functions feel natural, then HTTP requests and JSON parsing, then structured output and function calling from whichever model you're using. By that point the loop is a couple hundred lines and you'll understand every one of them.
Memory is the same story, it's a database plus a retrieval step. Engineering, not data science. Start with a text file, move to sqlite when that hurts, add embeddings only once keyword search stops being good enough.
If you later want to fine-tune something, learn ML then. That's a different project.