Welcome to the Software Mansion Agentic Engineering Guide!
This book collects practical insights from applying agentic engineering patterns in Software Mansion ’s own projects and in our clients’ work. We are sharing it publicly so more teams can build with these methods.
Think of this document as a sidekick you keep open while you work.
What is agentic engineering?
Section titled “What is agentic engineering?”Agentic engineering is professional software development with AI agents as active collaborators. Instead of only generating snippets, the agent can inspect the repository, use tools, propose changes, and carry multi-step tasks to completion.
What makes it engineering, rather than just vibe coding, is the standard of work around those agents: a human stays responsible for the outcome, and the workflow is built around reviewable changes, quality gates, clear prompts, project structure, and repeatable team practices.
This guide is about that professional layer: how to set up the environment around agents, how to collaborate with them effectively, and how to keep code quality under control as their role in the workflow grows.
Learning paths
Section titled “Learning paths”If you are short on time, use the learning paths below.
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New to agentic engineering: Start with Getting Started, then Becoming Productive. Read Expanding Horizons as optional deep-dive material.
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Already experienced: Skim Getting Started, read Becoming Productive in full, then jump to selected sections in Expanding Horizons.
Chapters
Section titled “Chapters”This guide is divided into three main chapters. Each chapter increases the level of agentic initiation
Read this if: Agentic engineering is new to you, or you need to set up your local environment.
You will get: A practical software setup, core terminology, and first workflows (first commit, first bug fix, first design implementation).
Estimated effort: 45-75 min (or use as a reference while building).
Read this if: This is the meat of the guide. We expect everyone to study this section closely. It covers the frameworks that will actually make you a faster engineer. Think of it as a road to 10x.
You will get: Prompting and workflow patterns that make day-to-day agentic work more reliable and scalable.
Estimated effort: 60-90 min.
Read this if: You’re curious about the “how” and “why” behind the curtain. This is optional extra credit for deep divers.
You will get: Deeper mental models for context, compaction, model behavior, and MCP tradeoffs.
Estimated effort: 30-45 min.