Resource Library
What this is: a research index, not a link list. Usage: arrive with a problem → locate the mainline chapter in the first table → take the leveled reading route from that chapter's "Resource Library" section → use the "next question" column to decide where to go after reading. For external knowledge, check ownership in the second table first so you never search in the wrong site.
1. Find resources by problem
| Symptom / problem | Where to go first (layer · chapter) | In-chapter library | Next question after reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don't know where to start; problem domain unclear | L0 · Tech map | see the chapter's "Resource Library" section | Which rung is my need on? → Complexity decision ladder |
| Unstable answers; output won't parse | L1 · Structured output | same | Parsing is stable but content is off? → L3 grounding |
| Prompts are weak; roles and instructions confused | L1 · Prompt engineering | same | Is one prompt enough, or do I need project-level context? → Context engineering |
| The model doesn't know my repo's conventions | L1 · Context engineering | same | Context won't fit or costs too much? → Cost & performance |
| Answers stable but not productized (API calls, streaming, sessions) | L2 · Model API contract, Streaming, Session & state | same | Want generative UI? → Generative UI |
| Answers lack private or fresh facts | L3 · RAG, Embeddings & retrieval | same | Retrieval quality maxed out? → Advanced retrieval |
| Need to act (call systems, mutate data) | L4 · Tool execution (contract: L1 Tool calling) | same | Multi-step, recoverable, needs approval? → Agent runtime |
| Need an autonomous helper loop | L4 · Agent runtime | same | Context/memory management out of control? → State & memory |
| Collaboration across host / org / agent boundaries | L4 · Protocol map | same | Which protocol? → enter the MCP / A2A / ACP / AG-UI chapters by connection direction |
| Feature works but can't be proven or operated | L5 · Testing, Observability | same | Need release gates and evaluation evidence? → Evaluation (bridge) |
| High token cost, high latency | L5 · Cost & performance | same | Optimize to the end — smaller/edge models? → Browser & edge inference |
| Time to ship with rollback | L5 · Deployment & release | same | Who watches it in production? → Observability |
| Permissions, injection, data safety | L5 · Security | same | Alignment-level misbehavior? → external owner Learn LLM |
| Want to move model weights (fine-tune/align) | Appendix · Model lifecycle bridges | see each bridge's "deep derivations" section | Derivations & implementation → Learn LLM |
Each chapter's "Resource Library" section provides a four-level reading route (Beginner → Builder → Operator → Researcher); resources carry source and retrievedAt markers.
2. External knowledge owners
The full cross-repo division is in Site boundaries & ownership; this table is the retrieval-oriented quick view (retrievedAt: 2026-09-01):
| Owner | Scope | canonical URL | When to go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learn LLM | Model internals, training math (SFT/DPO/LoRA derivations), low-level RAG/Agent theory, multimodal and quantization mechanics | https://llm.zenheart.site/ | When you need the "why" derivation, internals, or math; the deep target of every bridge page in this repo |
| evals | Evaluation methods, benchmarks, judges, Golden Dataset, release evidence and CI integration | https://evals.zenheart.site/ | When you need evidence for release decisions, eval-set construction, or release-gate wiring |
| sites-epub | Vendor docs/blog captures and offline EPUB indexing | https://epub.zenheart.site/ | When you need vendor originals, offline reading, or version detail checks |
| learn-ai (this site) | Cross-technology mainline, five-part teaching, decision trees, minimal fixtures, debugging/production experience | https://ai.zenheart.site/ | When you need the engineering-decision view and end-to-end exercises |
Dynamic site numbers (chapter counts, pricing, availability) are not statically copied here — only URLs and retrievedAt; the target site is authoritative at visit time.
3. General tools and community
A curated set of general tools and services, grouped by purpose (vendor commands and parameters belong to sites-epub / vendor docs; this section only answers "when to choose it"):
UI component libraries (L2 interaction):
- Shadcn UI — copy/paste React components; the default starting point for chat interfaces
- Vercel AI SDK UI — official headless hooks: streaming render, message state, generative-UI companion
- NextUI — beautiful, fast React components; general UI supplement
AI libraries (TypeScript) (L2/L3 orchestration):
- LangChain.js — chain/agent orchestration, broadest ecosystem
- LlamaIndex.ts — RAG and data ingestion focus
- Transformers.js — in-browser ML (pairs with L2 edge inference)
Vector databases (L3 retrieval):
- Supabase (pgvector) — lowest-complexity option when you already run Postgres
- Pinecone — specialized serverless vector DB
- Upstash Vector — edge-deployment friendly
Learning:
- DeepLearning.AI — concept-heavy systematic courses
- Vercel AI SDK docs — among the best practical docs
- Hugging Face course — understanding model internals (complements Learn LLM)
Community:
- Vercel Community — AI SDK issues and direction
- LangChain Discord — orchestration-framework ecosystem
- /r/LocalLLaMA — densest hub for running local models
4. Official spec snapshots
Canonical spec addresses cited by the protocol chapters (the SSOT targets of this repo's protocol content; retrievedAt: 2026-09-01, version claims follow the spec originals):
| Topic | canonical URL |
|---|---|
| Agent Skills | https://agentskills.io/specification |
| Agent Plugins | https://agent-plugins.org/specification |
| MCP | https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/latest |
| A2A | https://a2a-protocol.org/v1.0.0/specification/ |
| Agent Client Protocol | https://agentclientprotocol.com/ |
| AG-UI | https://docs.ag-ui.com/introduction |
| A2UI / MCP Apps | https://a2ui.org/ ｜ https://modelcontextprotocol.io/extensions/apps/overview |
| ARD / MCP Registry | https://agenticresourcediscovery.org/spec/ ｜ https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry |
| JSON Schema / OpenAPI / JSON-RPC | https://json-schema.org/specification ｜ https://spec.openapis.org/oas/ ｜ https://www.json-rpc.org/specification |
| OAuth 2.1 (draft — never cite as final) / OIDC / AuthZEN | https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc9700/ ｜ https://openid.net/specs/openid-connect-core-1_0.html ｜ https://openid.net/specs/authorization-api-1_0.html |
Each protocol chapter's "spec vs locally tested" columns take these addresses as the spec-side source; if a spec updates after the snapshot date, update the chapter's specVersion first, then this table.
Appendix
Non-mainline content (training bridges, cases, course notes, methodology archive) lives in the appendix area and does not participate in this index's problem-driven order.