Open-Source AI in Practice: Building, Evaluating, and Sharing Agentic Tools
Details
# Open-Source AI in Practice: Build and Evaluate Agentic Tools with OpenLLM
Join Coffee & Code Philadelphia and OpenLLM for a hands-on workshop focused on building, evaluating, and contributing to open-source AI tools.
This session is designed for developers who want practical experience working with open-source models, agentic workflows, and the infrastructure required to operate AI systems reliably.
Rather than spending the day on high-level presentations, we will focus on one technical theme, a live demonstration, and a guided exercise that participants can follow or adapt to their own projects.
## What We’ll Cover
During the workshop, participants can expect:
- A practical introduction to OpenLLM and the problems it helps developers solve
- A live demonstration of an open-source AI model, tool, or agent workflow
- A guided exercise to build or modify a small AI application
- Techniques for evaluating agent behavior, reliability, and output quality
- Discussion of safety, deployment, and operating open-source AI in real projects
- Examples of how developers can contribute code, documentation, integrations, testing, and feedback
- Open Q&A with the OpenLLM team and Philadelphia builders
The exact technical focus and exercise will be announced closer to the event.
## Who Should Attend
This workshop is intended for:
- Software engineers
- AI and machine learning builders
- Technical founders
- Researchers and students
- Open-source contributors
- Developers experimenting with AI agents, models, evaluation, or infrastructure
Participants of different experience levels are welcome, but basic programming experience will be helpful for the hands-on portion.
## What to Bring
Please bring:
- A laptop
- A development environment you are comfortable using
- A GitHub account
- Any installation instructions or prerequisites announced before the event
You are also welcome to bring an existing AI or open-source project you are working on.
## Why This Event
The goal is to give Philadelphia builders direct experience with OpenLLM and its broader open-source ecosystem while creating space for useful technical feedback and collaboration.
This workshop may also serve as the starting point for future OpenLLM and Coffee & Code Philadelphia programming, including recurring workshops, contributor sessions, hackathons, and other open-source AI events.
## About OpenLLM
OpenLLM is an open-source initiative focused on making it easier for developers to build, run, evaluate, and share applications powered by open models.
Learn more at openllm.sh.
## About Coffee & Code Philadelphia
Coffee & Code Philadelphia is a community of approximately 5,000 developers, founders, students, researchers, and technology professionals.
Website: https://www.codephilly.com
Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/code-coffee-philly/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/code-coffee-philadelphia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coffeecodephilly
Discord: https://discord.gg/2ad8NmvC2
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/codecoffeephilly
Substack: https://substack.com/@codecoffeephilly
