Training course · AI Agent Development · Kubernetes & Microservices

AI Agent Development for Kubernetes and Microservices Teams

Build AI agents professionally: architectures, tool use, agent SDKs, LangGraph, memory, evals, guardrails and deployment.

Duration
2 days (14 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“AI Agent Development for Kubernetes and Microservices Teams” is designed for roles such as Platform engineers and Kubernetes administrators, Developers running microservices on Kubernetes and Site reliability engineers with cluster responsibility and shows step by step how to use AI Agent Development productively, safely and transparently in Kubernetes & Microservices – from the fundamentals to advanced workflows.

AI agents go beyond conventional chatbots: they break tasks down, call tools and APIs, evaluate the results and keep iterating until a goal is met. In this two-day course you learn to build such systems so that they work reliably, transparently and safely in day-to-day business. You compare architectural patterns ranging from simple workflows through the agent loop to multi-agent systems, and you implement them hands-on with the Claude Agent SDK, the OpenAI Agents SDK and LangGraph.

The focus is not on a quick demo but on the path to production. You design tool interfaces and context deliberately, connect tools via the Model Context Protocol, plan short-term and long-term memory and build evaluations that surface regressions early. On top of that come guardrails against prompt injection and harmful actions, human-in-the-loop approvals, tracing, cost control and deployment. By the end you can judge when an agent is worthwhile, when a deterministic workflow is enough and which framework fits your project.

Kubernetes has become the standard platform for microservices – and with it comes a flood of YAML manifests, Helm charts, Kustomize overlays, operators, service mesh configuration and GitOps repositories. On top of that, failures are distributed across dozens of services. AI coding assistants and agents take a lot of that complexity off your hands: they generate Helm charts with sensible defaults, diagnose CrashLoopBackOff and OOMKilled errors from events and logs, write NetworkPolicies and RBAC rules on the least-privilege principle and help define service boundaries. At the same time, an agent with cluster access needs firm limits. This course teaches you to use AI for manifests, troubleshooting and architecture work without losing control of your clusters.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Platform engineers and Kubernetes administrators
  • Developers running microservices on Kubernetes
  • Site reliability engineers with cluster responsibility
  • Software architects designing distributed systems
  • DevOps teams introducing or scaling GitOps

Typical challenges we address

  • Unwieldy amounts of YAML, Helm values and overlays across many environments
  • Difficult troubleshooting of distributed issues spanning services, networking and resource limits
  • Security gaps from overly broad RBAC, missing NetworkPolicies and privileged containers
  • Unclear service boundaries and tight coupling in growing microservice landscapes

What you will be able to do

  • You choose the right pattern for a task, from a fixed workflow to an autonomous agent.
  • You design tools and context so that agents work reliably and cost-effectively.
  • You implement agents with the Claude Agent SDK, the OpenAI Agents SDK or LangGraph.
  • You set up evaluations and tracing to measure quality and detect regressions.
  • Create and review Helm charts, overlays and policies efficiently with AI agents.
  • Diagnose issues in clusters and microservices faster with structured AI support.
  • Restrict agents’ cluster access and enforce security and architecture rules consistently.

Course outline

Day 1

Module 1 Agent architectures and design patterns
  • Workflows versus agents: prompt chaining, routing, parallelisation, orchestrator-worker
  • The agent loop: plan, act, observe, reflect
  • Multi-agent systems, subagents and handoffs between agents
  • Criteria for choosing model, framework and level of autonomy
Module 2 Tool use and context engineering
  • Function calling and structured outputs with JSON Schema
  • Designing good tools: granularity, naming, error messages, idempotency
  • Connecting and reusing tools via MCP servers
  • Managing the context window: summarisation, compaction, retrieval and prompt caching
Module 3 Frameworks in practice
  • Claude Agent SDK: agent loop, tools, subagents, permissions and hooks
  • OpenAI Agents SDK: agents, handoffs, guardrails and tracing
  • LangGraph: stateful graphs, checkpointing and human-in-the-loop
  • Side-by-side comparison on the same task and criteria for choosing a framework
Module 4 Memory, evals and observability
  • Short-term and long-term memory, storage strategies and forgetting
  • Evaluation datasets, LLM-as-a-judge and task-based success metrics
  • Tracing tool calls, token usage and latency
  • Regression testing when prompts, models or tools change

Day 2

Module 5 Guardrails, security and deployment
  • Protecting against prompt injection, data exfiltration and over-privileged tools
  • Input and output checks, approval steps and sandboxing
  • Deploying as a service, asynchronous execution, retries and cost limits
  • Governance, audit logging and requirements under GDPR and the EU AI Act
Module 6 Practice lab: Kubernetes & Microservices
  • Creating Helm charts and Kustomize overlays
  • Debugging pods and deployments
  • RBAC and NetworkPolicies
  • Service boundaries and communication
  • Setting up observability
  • Maintaining GitOps repositories
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Kubeconfigs, service account tokens and secrets must never end up in prompts, and agents should only work with read-only or tightly scoped rights in non-production clusters. Check container images and charts for provenance, signatures and vulnerabilities, and take into account the supply-chain and SBOM requirements of NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Creating Helm charts and Kustomize overlays

The agent generates Helm charts or Kustomize overlays with probes, resource requests, pod disruption budgets and security contexts, validates them with helm lint and kubeconform and documents every value.

Debugging pods and deployments

From kubectl output, events and container logs, the AI narrows down causes of CrashLoopBackOff, OOMKilled, ImagePullBackOff or failing readiness probes and proposes concrete fixes. The team reviews every proposed fix before applying it.

RBAC and NetworkPolicies

The AI analyses existing roles and traffic flows, writes least-privilege RBAC rules and creates NetworkPolicies that allow only the traffic services genuinely need. Changes are tested in a non-production cluster first.

Service boundaries and communication

The assistant helps define service boundaries along business domains, weigh synchronous against asynchronous communication and implement patterns such as outbox, circuit breaker or saga properly.

Setting up observability

Services get OpenTelemetry instrumentation, Prometheus metrics, ServiceMonitors and alert rules, plus dashboards that make latency, error rate and saturation visible. Alerts are aligned with service level objectives so that only relevant incidents escalate.

Maintaining GitOps repositories

The AI structures repositories for Argo CD or Flux, separates environments cleanly, automates image updates and explains sync failures using status output and diffs. Drift between repository and cluster becomes visible.

Possible hands-on projects

Manifest linter with a rule set

A tool that checks Kubernetes manifests for missing limits, probes, labels and insecure settings and produces a report for pull requests.

Microservice demo with tracing

Two or three small services instrumented with OpenTelemetry, deployed via Helm to a local cluster, including a dashboard for distributed traces.

Cluster hygiene report

A CLI that finds unused ConfigMaps, orphaned PersistentVolumes and deployments without resource settings and suggests clean-up actions. Nothing is deleted without human approval.

Prerequisites

Solid programming skills in Python or TypeScript, experience with REST APIs and some hands-on experience with LLM APIs or AI assistants. Practical experience with containers, kubectl and core Kubernetes objects, plus a working knowledge of Helm, YAML and Git.

Technical requirements

A laptop with Python or Node.js, Git and a code editor, plus API access to at least one LLM provider such as Anthropic or OpenAI. Credentials for the exercises can be provided if needed.

Data protection & compliance

Kubeconfigs, service account tokens and secrets must never end up in prompts, and agents should only work with read-only or tightly scoped rights in non-production clusters. Check container images and charts for provenance, signatures and vulnerabilities, and take into account the supply-chain and SBOM requirements of NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Thu, 26 November 2026 – Fri, 27 November 2026 Online Request
  • Wed, 9 December 2026 – Thu, 10 December 2026 Berlin Request
  • Tue, 15 December 2026 – Wed, 16 December 2026 Online Request
  • Tue, 12 January 2027 – Wed, 13 January 2027 Stuttgart Request
  • Mon, 25 January 2027 – Tue, 26 January 2027 Online Request
  • Mon, 8 February 2027 – Tue, 9 February 2027 Hanover Request

Frequently asked questions

Which agent framework should we use?

It depends on your model strategy, the level of control you need and your team’s skills. Vendor SDKs offer a lean start with tightly integrated features, while LangGraph gives you finer control over state and flow. In the course you solve the same task with several frameworks and derive clear selection criteria for your own project.

How do you stop an agent from taking wrong or dangerous actions?

With several layers of protection: narrowly scoped tools with minimal permissions, input and output validation, approval steps for critical actions, sandboxing and continuous evaluation. Prompt injection via external content is treated as a realistic threat. You practise these measures directly on your own agent.

Does every automation need an agent?

No. Many tasks are handled more reliably, cheaply and transparently by a fixed workflow of a few LLM calls. Agents pay off when the solution path cannot be planned in advance and the system must react flexibly to intermediate results. We train exactly this trade-off using practical examples.

Should an AI agent have direct access to my cluster?

Only in a controlled way. For analysis and troubleshooting, read-only rights in selected namespaces are usually enough, while changes should go through GitOps repositories and reviews. On the course you set up dedicated service accounts, local test clusters and approval processes so the agent is useful without creating production risk.

Does the course also cover microservice architecture questions?

Yes. Beyond manifests and operations, we look at how AI can support defining service boundaries, weighing communication patterns and assessing architecture options. The AI provides options and arguments, while the decision stays with the team and is documented transparently. That keeps decisions accountable.

How much does “AI Agent Development for Kubernetes and Microservices Teams” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 2 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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