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Floris Knol
NLEN
published 21-09-2026

From Zero to AI Agents That Do The Work

How to build them and put them to work. A book by Floris Knol, in Dutch and in English, as paperback and as e-book.

This book shows how to build AI agents that do work while you sleep. It starts with one task you hand over. It ends with an organization that has a goal nobody has to restate every morning, a budget that can run out, and a memory.

Everything in it happened and can be checked, including what went wrong and what it cost. And you do not have to be a programmer.

Cover of the Dutch edition, AI-agenten die het werk doen Cover of From Zero to AI Agents That Do The Work

What is inside

27 chapters

From one task to an organization, step by step.

An assignment per chapter

You do it yourself, on a sample administration that comes with the book.

See the sample case →

No programmer needed

The book is written for people who want the work done, not for people who want to program.

Checkable

Everything happened, including what went wrong and what it cost.

Along the way you pass

  1. The tools first, then the thing
  2. What fell away, and what did not
  3. “Yes, but you are a programmer”
  4. Facts, not opinions
  5. Attainable before valuable
  6. Multipliers
  7. And if you did it a thousand times?
  8. Why are you still doing that yourself?
  9. Checking itself
  10. Speed is not comfort
  11. Not on disk, never happened
  12. Fratsen
  13. Mistakes are your best teacher
  14. My tools lied to me
  15. The second time
  16. Look for the key, not the doors
  17. Zero dependencies
  18. The flywheel
  19. What an agent lacks
  20. Limits, and who signs
  21. Improving without a release
  22. Access is the scarce thing
  23. Lock-in is a design choice
  24. Taking part in the formal world
  25. When everyone can build
  26. Where we stand now
  27. Where this is going

Four editions

All four are sold in bookshops: see where to buy the book.

Dutch · paperback

€ 39,00
ISBN
978-94-0394-384-8
length
326 pp.
Order

Dutch · e-book

€ 19,00
ISBN
978-94-0394-393-0
Order

English · paperback

€ 39,00
ISBN
978-94-0394-429-6
length
324 pp.
Order

English · e-book

€ 19,00
ISBN
978-94-0394-430-2
Order
coming soon

Audiobook coming soon

The book is also coming as an audiobook, in Dutch and in English. Want to hear when it is out?

Let me know

Extras for the book

The book comes with a sample administration on which you do the assignments. That, and whatever is added later, will get a place here to download.