Now that the application is working locally, let’s deploy it to the cloud. I chose Azure since I get a generous $150 credit allowance as a Microsoft employee (thanks, employer!). The process was surprisingly straightforward. I remember my AWS deployment days from more than a decade ago—fun, but somewhat tedious. With the `az CLI, deployment was a breeze. There were few deployment options available (arent we spoiled with choices). I chose Azure Container Apps since it offers auto-scaling, managed certificates, and seamless container registry integration with lower operational overhead than Kubernetes(AKS)....
Agentic Platform - Chapter 3: Improve with Windsurf
Previously using ChatGPT Plus to build the frontend for the agent platform, I found it to be a bit slow with lot of back and forth. I then decided to try out Windsurf IDE. While testing the Agent I encountered 3 problems Agent was not able to remember the context e.g. User: Who was Bill Clinton? Agent: He was the 42nd President of USA User: Where was he born? Agent: Who are you referring to when you say "he" Agent was not invoking skills properly like Whenever I ask to look for news and anything which requires a search, it doesn’t....
Agentic Platform - Chapter 2: Enhance with ChatGPT Plus
Now that I was able to build the basic backend platform to build and serve agents via Claude Code, I wanted to now build a frontend to interact with the agents. I chose to use recently launched Jules from Google along with tried and tested ChatGPT Plus (another one of many subscription-based services I pay for) My trial with Jules suffice to say was pretty disappointing. The wait times were long and the code output wasn’t that great....
Agentic Platform - Chapter 1: Build with Claude Code
So, it was Sunday night, and after putting our toddler to sleep, I was finally able to sit down and experiment with Claude Code to build an Agentic Platform. I’ve been a long-time lurker on Hacker News and had heard great things about Claude Code, so I just had to try it. As a big Claude user, I signed up for Claude Code in the Developer Console, set up my credit card with $20 in credits, and was ready to go....
Secret Google FooBar
What started as a simple Google search for “CyclicBarrier in Java” turned into an unexpected journey through Google’s Foo Bar coding challenge. Eight years ago, while debugging thread synchronization issues, my browser suddenly displayed a black screen with the message: “You’ve been invited to try Google Foo Bar. Do you accept? (yes/no)”. It seemed like every level has number of problems = level, except for level 4 and 5. The Invitation My coding competition days participation was long over....
Hand of Sardinian
Ampelius felt a cool breeze beneath his tunic as he swung the hammer with his calloused hands. It had been an unusually hot month of March. He mulled over a long day and the tasks that lay ahead of him– he had to harden Marius’s armor and then settle his debts with his Patrcii, Lucius. Ampelius had moved to Rome twelve years ago from Sardinia along with his father. Ampelius recalled his father’s words - “Ampelius, you need to sail with winds of change....
A Strange Laundry Day
Radhika strolled towards the dry-cleaning shop she owned in Nasik, a holy city near Mumbai. Her shop served a diverse clientele – people with soiled laundry, and priests from nearby temples seeking to cleanse the cash donations. With Diwali festivities recently concluded, it was a bustling time of the year, and Radhika anticipated an influx of such customers. Approaching her shop, she observed a gathering of men outside, one appearing to be a policeman, near a small truck parked nearby....
Zenith's Journey
“Can you please try again?” Zenith sounded exasperated. “Sir, unfortunately, this is the best I can do with the credits you have” An AVITA responded in a voice that was borderline mechanical. Zenith yearned for the time when humans used to be customer service agents a century ago; they were probably more reasonable. AVITA (or Automated Voice Interface Ticketing Assistant) like other voice assistants had replaced all customer service reps....