build-agent

name	build-agent
description	Tutorial for building your first agent in the Agentics ecosystem. Covers Claude Code agents, MCP servers, and orchestrating multi-agent swarms. Use when a user asks how to build, design, or deploy an agent.

Build Your First Agent

A walkthrough for building an agent that does useful work.

Choose the agent shape

Three common shapes:

Shape	Use when	Example
Skill	Stateless guidance Claude follows	"How to deploy to GCP"
Slash command	One-shot user-triggered action	/events list
Subagent	Specialized model with own context	Code reviewer, research agent
MCP server	Programmatic tools (fetch, query, mutate)	agentics-org, agentics-events

Most useful agents combine these: an MCP server provides tools, a skill teaches Claude when to call them, and a subagent owns a specialized workflow.

Minimal Claude Code agent (5 minutes)

plugins/my-agent/
├── .claude-plugin/plugin.json    # name, version, description
├── agents/my-agent.md            # frontmatter: name, description, model
└── skills/my-skill/SKILL.md      # frontmatter: name, description

Then test with claude --plugin-dir ./plugins/my-agent.

Add tools with an MCP server

When you need real-world I/O (HTTP, files, APIs), wrap them in an MCP server:

1. Add .mcp.json to wire the server
2. Write server.js using @modelcontextprotocol/sdk
3. Reference the tools in allowed-tools: of your skill

The agentics-org plugin in this marketplace is a working reference. Read its server.js.

Orchestrate multiple agents

For complex jobs, spawn parallel agents using the Task tool:

• One message, multiple Task calls = parallel execution
• Each agent runs in isolation with its own context window
• Use a coordinator agent to merge results

See the swarm-orchestration skill for advanced patterns.

Output style

Lead with a working minimal example. Resist over-explaining theory. Drop them into a working scaffold first, then explain why each piece exists.