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Ryan Day

Every week or two I share tips for hands-on skills related to data science, APIs, and AI. From the author of Hands-on APIs for AI and Data Science:Python Development with FastAPI from O'Reilly Publishing

Featured Post

Tip Sheet #67: Building a CLI for agent harnesses

Hi Tip-Sheeters, This week has an everything-old-is-new-again flavor: we're looking at building command line interfaces (CLIs) for APIs. You remember those old things: the somewhat cryptic tools you run in a linux prompt or from your Mac's terminal. Well they're having a moment in the AI and API space because they're a useful way for agents to call your APIs. And we're going to build one for the Air Travel API. Read to the end to see an LLM use the CLI in an agent harness. Back from Summer...

Ricardo Heredia Joya

Hi Tip-Sheeters, This week I'm sharing highlights of virtual chat I had with Ricardo Heredia Joya, a Madrid data scientist with a background as a medical doctor. He is active in the Football analytics community, and shares his thoughts and tips in the Underdoc substack. (If you're enjoying the Tip Sheet I'm sure you'll get a lot from Ricardo's newsletter.) You are your best asset, so never stop learning. - Ricardo Heredia Joya Q1: Thanks for having a virtual chat with the Tip Sheet...

Hi Tip-Sheeters, I've been looking forward to this week's newsletter for a while -- The One Where I Deploy to FastAPI Cloud (fans of TV's Friends may appreciate the title). Since I began using FastAPI, some of the best improvements I have seen have been in the "fastapi" command line interface program. CLIs have become pretty important in their own right lately so if you're interested in the code for the FastAPI CLI you can see it here: https://github.com/fastapilabs. The CLI is built with...

Hi Tip-Sheeters, Thanks for everyone who joined the NordicAPIs LiveCast: Asynchronous APIs for AI and Data Science recently. If you're interested in skimming to catch some of the interesting bits, here are a few: 12:45 - How asynch patterns used by agents have an impact on your API design 39:14 - How learning enterprise patterns is beneficial for API developers 49:24 - What skills should data scientists and software developers learn right now Thanks again to NordicAPIs -- I encourage you to...

Hi Tip-Sheeters, Model Context Protocol is a fast-growing standard for providing data and other context to LLM apps. This is an area that Python is really leading the way, namely FastMCP. According to the FastMCP PyPi page, 70% of all MCP servers (in any programming language) are written with some version of FastMCP. Yesterday [Feb. 18, 2026], the FastMCP team released FastMCP 3.0 into production with quite a few new features. I had a chance to chat with Jeremiah Lowin, the creator of FastMCP...

Hi Tip-Sheeters, This week there's big news in Python-land as the Starlette nears the official 1.0 release. I also have an interview with a data scientist who is developing and deploying his code out in public. Let's dive in! Starlette gets the v1.0.0rc release candidate There's major news in the Python community this week as Marcelo Trylesinski (aka Kludex) announced the release candidate v1.0.0rc of Starlette. This means the full production 1.0 release is on its way. Starlette is an...

Hi Tip-Sheeters, Let me be one of the first to tell you 🎉 Happy New Year! 🎆 I hope you're excited about 2026 and the new skills in data science and tech that you'll be picking up. This week, I was able to put my finger on a concept that had been bouncing around in my head for a while: building a career that benefits from rapid changes. An antifragile career I enjoy reading the Incerto Series of books from Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He has a writing style that is challenging and entertaining, and...

LitServe logo

Hi Tip-Sheeters, One of the key areas where APIs are used in machine learning is for model inference. This is where the model is made available for real-time API calls to receive predictions. This is one of the two primary modes of model inference (along with batch inference). Tip Sheet #12 listed some of the top Python libraries worth exploring. One of those was LitServe, which is a framework for hosting models with a FastAPI backend. This week, I'll demonstrate this framework using my...

Hi Tip-Sheeters, Today is Veteran's Day, and I want to start with appreciation for any service members who are reading this. The holiday was originally created to remember the armistice that ended the first World War in 1918. Peace is a blessing that we should never take for granted. Entering a Hackathon Quick and Dirty As data and IT pros, we are constantly honing our craft. One of the best ways is through taking on intense challenges or projects to drive our learning in a short period of...

Hi Tip-Sheeters, This week, I’m sharing a few of the questions that I’ve had this past year from readers, people at events, or folks who’ve reached out on LinkedIn. If you ever have a question or something I can assist with, please hit reply on the newsletter email, and I’ll be happy to share my thoughts. Let’s jump in! Q&A About Data, Tech, and Career Q: What is the new tool or framework you are learning about right now? If you’ve been keeping up with the Tip Sheet, you won’t be surprised...