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Notes from the inside.

Field notes on applied AI: choosing models, designing reliable architectures, evaluating behaviour and doing the engineering work that makes systems useful in production.

Architecture
4 min read

RAG vs Agentic Retrieval: What Actually Ships in Production

A practical guide for CTOs and product leaders comparing classic RAG pipelines with agentic retrieval loops, their trade-offs and the hybrid systems that ship.

Mercury Labs · 3 Feb 2026Read
Delivery
3 min read

From Chatbots to Agents: When AI Starts Doing the Work

Chatbots answer questions. Agents use tools to execute workflows. The operating model, safeguards and architecture needed to ship agentic AI safely.

Mercury Labs · 15 Dec 2025Read
Delivery
5 min read

The Last Mile Problem: Why AI Coding Agents Don’t Ship Software

AI coding agents generate code quickly, but shipping the right feature still depends on scope alignment, evidence and verification.

Mercury Labs · 15 Dec 2025Read
Architecture
3 min read

Fine-Tuning vs. RAG: Choosing the Right Architecture

Should you fine-tune a model on your data or connect it to your data with RAG? A guide to the trade-offs, costs and production patterns.

Mercury Labs · 15 Dec 2025Read
Models
3 min read

The Multi-Model Strategy: Why You Shouldn't Lock In to OpenAI

How multi-model routing can reduce cost, improve reliability and support data privacy in enterprise AI systems.

Mercury Labs · 15 Dec 2025Read
Delivery
3 min read

Beyond ‘Vibe Checking’: How to Evaluate AI Systems at Scale

How to run evaluations like tests, use LLM-as-a-judge safely and prevent regressions when models and prompts change.

Mercury Labs · 15 Dec 2025Read
Models
6 min read

Understanding Prompt Caching: Reduce AI Costs and Latency

How prompt caching works in modern LLM APIs, including cache prefixes, TTL, cost savings and when to use it.

Mercury Labs · 15 Dec 2024Read
Architecture
6 min read

Why Embeddings Matter: A Technical Guide for Business Leaders

From vectors to practical applications: how embeddings enable semantic search, recommendations and retrieval-augmented generation.

Mercury Labs · 14 Dec 2024Read
Models
4 min read

Writing Effective Prompts for LLMs

Practical techniques for system prompts, examples, reasoning tasks and structured outputs across modern language models.

Mercury Labs · 13 Dec 2024Read
Architecture
6 min read

Understanding Generative Search and Its Application in Your Company

How generative search combines vector databases with language models to provide accurate, current responses.

Mercury Labs · 12 Dec 2024Read
Models
5 min read

Demystifying Transformer Models in Machine Learning

The architecture powering modern AI: tokenisation, embeddings, attention mechanisms and why transformers matter to applied AI.

Mercury Labs · 11 Dec 2024Read