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Mock Exam

CCAR-F · Study Guide

← Build Exercises

Domain 1

Agentic Architecture & Orchestration

7 build exercises to practice the concepts in this domain.

1.1Intermediate45 minutes

1.1 — Build a Multi-Tool Agent Loop

What you will learn

  • How a Messages API agent loop starts, calls tools, and stops.
  • Why stop_reason, not the shape of the text, decides the next turn.
  • How tool_use continues the loop and end_turn ends it.
  • How to append each tool result so the next turn can use it.
  • When an iteration cap is only a safety ceiling.
Open lesson 1.1
1.2Intermediate60 minutes

1.2 — Build a Hub-and-Spoke Research Coordinator

What you will learn

  • How hub-and-spoke keeps every message on the coordinator.
  • Why a subagent sees only the context you put in its prompt.
  • How a broad split avoids dropping whole categories of a topic.
  • How a coverage loop finds gaps and sends them back out.
  • Why a thin report is a decomposition problem on the coordinator.
Open lesson 1.2
1.3Intermediate50 minutes

1.3 — Implement Context Passing with Structured Metadata

What you will learn

  • Why allowedTools must include Task or Agent before a coordinator can spawn.
  • How a finding keeps the claim separate from its source.
  • Why a missing citation is a handoff bug, not a synthesis-prompt bug.
  • How to spawn independent subagents in one coordinator response.
  • How fork_session differs from a parallel Task call.
Open lesson 1.3
1.4Advanced60 minutes

1.4 — Build a Prerequisite Gate for Financial Operations

What you will learn

  • Why a money movement needs a code gate, not a prompt reminder.
  • How a prerequisite gate refuses the tool call until the earlier step has succeeded.
  • Why a prompt still fails on a slice of runs while a gate does not.
  • How a handoff carries customer id, summary, root cause, and a recommended action.
  • How a request with two independent concerns is split and handled together.
Open lesson 1.4
1.5Advanced60 minutes

1.5 — Implement Agent SDK Hooks for Normalisation and Policy Enforcement

What you will learn

  • PostToolUse runs after a tool returns and is where you normalise data.
  • PreToolUse runs before a tool executes and is where you enforce policy.
  • Why a hook can guarantee a rule that a prompt cannot.
  • How to fold different MCP payloads into one schema.
  • The split: hooks for requirements that must always hold, prompts for preferences.
Open lesson 1.5
1.6Advanced60 minutes

1.6 — Build a Multi-Pass Code Review Pipeline

What you will learn

  • Why one pass over many files reviews some deeply and others barely.
  • How a per-file pass plus a cross-file pass fixes that split of attention.
  • When a fixed pipeline fits, and when the split should be decided at runtime.
  • Why batching files without an integration pass still misses cross-cutting issues.
  • How to spot the artefact: the same pattern flagged in one file and approved in another.
Open lesson 1.6
1.7Intermediate45 minutes

1.7 — Implement Session Management Strategies

What you will learn

  • The three options: resume, fork_session, and a fresh start that injects a summary.
  • Why resuming after the files have changed leaves the session on stale tool results.
  • How a structured summary keeps the decisions without the old tool payloads.
  • When a targeted re-read beats exploring the repo again.
  • Fork compares approaches from one start. Resume continues the same line of work.
Open lesson 1.7