Guru's Field NotesPractitioner notes on AI agents, MCP, and building things that work.https://gnanaguru.com/Every Way to Secure an AI Agent (and What Breaks When You Don't)https://gnanaguru.com/blog/agent-security-patterns/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/agent-security-patterns/How to secure AI agents: 8 credential management patterns from .env files to MCP tool runtimes. Real incidents, trade-offs, code.Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe AI You Dismissed Isn't the AI That's Cominghttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-ai-you-dismissed-isnt-the-ai/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-ai-you-dismissed-isnt-the-ai/The gap between AI skeptics and believers isn't intelligence - it's exposure.Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe App You Should Be Building Is Youhttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-app-you-should-be-building-is/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-app-you-should-be-building-is/Everyone's racing to ship. Maybe the real leverage is standing still.Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTFederation Over Embeddings: Let AI Agents Query Data Where It Liveshttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/federation-over-embeddings-let-ai/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/federation-over-embeddings-let-ai/Before building vector infrastructure, consider federation: AI agents with tool access to your existing systems. That's all most teams need.Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTJava's Agentic Framework Boom is a Code Smellhttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/javas-agentic-framework-boom-is-a/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/javas-agentic-framework-boom-is-a/Stop building orchestration frameworks and start building agents. The future belongs to those who master the ecosystem, not language-specific engines.Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTYou Don't Need an Agentic Framework to Start Building Agentshttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/you-dont-need-an-agentic-framework/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/you-dont-need-an-agentic-framework/Stop researching frameworks and start building, the pattern is simpler than you think.Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTLow latency Serving on Iceberg with Apache Pinot, in StarTree Cloudhttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/low-latency-serving-on-iceberg-with/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/low-latency-serving-on-iceberg-with/Apache Pinot now queries Iceberg tables natively. The first system to enable low-latency serving directly on the data lake, no ETL or duplication.Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMTYour Next Software Decision Won't Be Easy. If It Is, You're Doing It Wrong.https://gnanaguru.com/blog/your-next-software-decision-wont/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/your-next-software-decision-wont/For architects and decision makers in an era where AI rewrites the rules overnight - your old software buying checklist is worthlessTue, 08 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTQuery Streams for Apache Pinothttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/query-streams-for-apache-pinot/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/query-streams-for-apache-pinot/Lightweight tool to push real-time query results from Apache Pinot to webhooks for seamless UI integration.Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMTThe Truth About AI Agents: Are They Really That New?https://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-truth-about-ai-agents-are-they/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-truth-about-ai-agents-are-they/AI agents build on familiar integration patterns, enhanced with smarter tools to redefine roles and reshape teams. Here's how to adapt.Sat, 14 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMTPartial UPSERTs in Apache Pinothttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/partial-upserts-in-apache-pinot/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/partial-upserts-in-apache-pinot/An often underestimated feature you shouldn’t overlook when choosing a real-time analytics database, for precision and simplicity.Tue, 26 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMTThe Coriander Effect: Elevating User Experience with Subtle Enhancementshttps://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-coriander-effect-elevating-user/https://gnanaguru.com/blog/the-coriander-effect-elevating-user/Discover how small design details drive user activation and retention in product-led growth strategies.Thu, 11 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT