Build a Simple “Research Agent”
Explore how to build a simple autonomous research agent with OpenAI Agents SDK. Understand how an agent can independently search the web, analyze information, and produce detailed or summarized research reports by managing its own workflows and decision-making. Learn to customize agents with different output styles and how multi-agent systems work.
We’ve been building AI applications using the OpenAI SDK directly, making API calls, handling responses, and managing conversations manually. Now, let’s step into the world of AI agents: autonomous systems that can think, plan, and take actions to accomplish complex tasks.
By the end of this lesson, you’ll understand how to build a simple yet powerful “Research Agent” that can automatically search the web, analyze information, and provide comprehensive research reports. This will be done all while the agent manages its own workflow and decision-making process. It resembles a kind of mini OpenAI deep research.
Why AI agents matter?
Think about the difference between a calculator and a personal assistant. A calculator waits for you to input each step: “Add 5 to 3, now multiply by 2, now subtract 1.” A personal assistant understands the goal: “Help me figure out my budget for next month,” and then takes all the necessary ...