Agentic Architecture: Why Files Aren't Always Enough

<p>What are the limitations of using a file-based agent workflow? Why do massive context windows tend to collapse? This week on the show, Mikiko Bazeley from MongoDB joins us to discuss agentic architecture and context engineering.</p>
<p>Mikiko is an applied AI engineer. She helps developers and organizations build AI and ML applications using MongoDB. We dig into the debate of files versus a database. What are some of the limitations of building an agent with just a folder of files? </p>
<p>We explore the surprising limitations of massive context windows and strategies for fixing them. Mikiko also shares advice and resources to help you get up to speed on building your own agent skills. Our conversation touches on multiple topics in the current development landscape.</p>
<p>This episode is sponsored by <a href="serpapi.com/?utm_source=realpython&utm_med…;
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<p>Topics:</p>
<ul>
<li>00:00:00 – Introduction</li>
<li>00:02:31 – Catching up with MongoDB</li>
<li>00:07:02 – Are the files all you need?</li>
<li>00:15:14 – What is a workflow agent?</li>
<li>00:24:43 – Sponsor: SerpApi</li>
<li>00:25:45 – Model vs harness</li>
<li>00:29:57 – Context rot and tool loadouts</li>
<li>00:41:07 – Sharing state and coordination of agents</li>
<li>00:47:27 – Video Course Spotlight</li>
<li>00:49:16 – What do dataflows look like</li>
<li>01:00:38 – The human-in-the-loop & coding agents</li>
<li>01:10:30 – Resources to explore</li>
<li>01:17:49 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?</li>
<li>01:18:38 – What do you want to learn next?</li>
<li>01:22:54 – Thanks and goodbye</li>
</ul>
<p>Show Links:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="thenewstack.io/ai-agent-memory-architecture/&q… “files are all you need” debate misses what’s actually happening in agent memory architecture - The New Stack</a></li>
<li><a href="mongodb.com/">MongoDB: The World’s Leading Modern Data Platform</a></li>
<li><a href="venturebeat.com/data/karpathy-shares-llm-knowl… shares ‘LLM Knowledge Base’ architecture that bypasses RAG with an evolving markdown library maintained by AI - VentureBeat</a></li>
<li><a href="llamaindex.ai/blog/files-are-all-you-need"… Are All You Need: Context, Search, Skills Guide | LlamaIndex</a></li>
<li><a href="mongodb.com/company/blog/technical/converged-d… Datastore For Agentic AI - MongoDB</a></li>
<li><a href="thenewstack.io/why-developers-need-vector-sear… Developers Need Vector Search - The New Stack</a></li>
<li><a href="oreilly.com/radar/why-multi-agent-systems-need… Multi-Agent Systems Need Memory Engineering – O’Reilly</a></li>
<li><a href="philschmid.de/context-engineering">The New Skill in AI is Not Prompting, It’s Context Engineering - Phil Schmid</a></li>
<li><a href="dbreunig.com/2025/06/22/how-contexts-fail-and-… Long Contexts Fail - dbreunig.com</a></li>
<li><a href="dbreunig.com/2025/06/26/how-to-fix-your-contex… to Fix Your Context - dbreunig.com</a></li>
<li><a href="arxiv.org/abs/2601.11653">AI Agents Need Memory Control Over More Context - arxiv.org</a></li>
<li><a href="latent.space/p/ainews-is-harness-engineering-r… - Is Harness Engineering real? - Latent.Space</a></li>
<li><a href="adambaitch.substack.com/p/the-model-vs-the-har… Model vs. the Harness: Which Actually Matters More?</a></li>
<li><a href="realpython.com/chromadb-vector-database/"… and Vector Databases With ChromaDB – Real Python</a></li>
<li><a href="github.com/humanlayer/12-factor-agents"&g…: What are the principles we can use to build LLM-powered software that is actually good enough to put in the hands of production customers?</a></li>
<li><a href="12factor.net/">The Twelve-Factor App</a></li>
<li><a href="learn.mongodb.com/">MongoDB Courses and Trainings - MongoDB University</a></li>
<li><a href="github.com/mongodb-js/mongodb-mcp-server"…: A Model Context Protocol server to connect to MongoDB databases and MongoDB Atlas Clusters.</a></li>
<li><a href="mongodb.com/docs/mcp-server/">What is the MongoDB MCP Server? - MongoDB Docs</a></li>
<li><a href="github.com/mongodb/mongo-python-driver"&g…: PyMongo - the Official MongoDB Python driver</a></li>
<li><a href="github.com/mongodb/agent-skills">agent…: Use the official MongoDB Skills with your favorite coding agent to build faster.</a></li>
<li><a href="reachymini.net/">Reachy Mini - Open-Source Desktop Humanoid Robot</a></li>
<li><a href="linkedin.com/in/mikikobazeley/">👩🏻‍💻 Mikiko B. - LinkedIn</a></li>
<li><a href="mikikobazeley.substack.com/">Building AI Products From Scratch - Mikiko Bazeley - Substack</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="realpython.com/courses/pydantic-simplify-data-… Pydantic to Simplify Python Data Validation</a></li>
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<li><a href="realpython.com/courses/building-type-safe-llm-… Type-Safe LLM Agents With Pydantic AI</a></li>
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