The Build - OpenAI Customer Service Agent Demo

In this episode of The Build, Cameron Rohn and Tom Spencer demonstrate a customer service agent demo built with the OpenAI Agents SDK and unpack its implications for AI development and startups. They begin by walking through the demo’s flow—an initial triage agent aligned with the Triage Supervisor Model that routes queries, followed by supervisor-like decisioning and a Train Ticket Test for end-to-end validation. The conversation then shifts to tooling and integrations, where they compare Langsmith for observability, Vercel for deployment, Supabase for persistent storage and memory systems, and MCP tools for rapid prototyping and monitoring. They explore technical architecture decisions such as API integration patterns, agent orchestration, and the use of Guardrail Checkpoint Question frameworks to enforce safety and correctness. They also cover building in public strategies, recommending transparent iteration, public telemetry via Langsmith, and community-driven open source contributions to accelerate adoption. Entrepreneurial insights surface throughout: monetization options, developer workflows, and go-to-market tactics when shipping agent-based products. The episode maintains a practical, technical focus on developer tools, memory systems, and architecture while offering startup-oriented advice. They close with a forward-looking statement urging builders to iterate in public, instrument agents deeply, and prioritize composable architectures to scale AI products.