What is Agent Experience (AX)? + Scalable AI Agent Orchestration

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, hosts Rob Ocel and Danny Thompson sit down with Andre Landgraf, Senior Developer Advocate at Neon (now part of Databricks), to explore the evolving role of AI agents in developer workflows. They discuss how more Neon databases are being spun up by agents than humans, what that means for developer and agent experience (DX vs AX), and how tools like MCP and step functions are enabling scalable agent orchestration.

The conversation also touches on agent security concerns, real-time vs. async UX, and how developers can build resilient, human-in-the-loop AI systems today. Plus, Andre shares practical insights from building his own personal CRM agent and experimenting with tools like Cortex and Ingest.Keypoints from this episode:- Agents now outpace humans in provisioning databases on Neon, thanks to agent-friendly APIs, early MCP support, and seamless integration with platforms like Replit and v0.dev.- Developer experience (DX) principles directly inform agent experience (AX), tools designed for simplicity and clarity often translate well to agent interactions, but agents still need unique guardrails like resumability and fine-grained permissions.- Agent orchestration is the next big frontier, with tools like LangBase, Ingest, and step functions offering patterns for chaining tasks, running agents in parallel, and retrying failed steps—enabling more resilient and scalable AI systems.- Async UX patterns are crucial for agent-powered apps, especially as LLMs become slower and more complex. Real-time feedback, task progress indicators, and human-in-the-loop controls will define effective agent interactions.Chapters00:00 Why apps don’t talk to each other 01:44 Meet Andre Landgraf from Neon 02:39 Agents now outnumber humans on Neon 05:03 DX vs AX: Building for agents 08:58 Security and authorization for agents 13:06 What’s missing for real adoption 17:06 Building a personal CRM with agents 20:04 MCP as the universal app interface 23:32 Agent orchestration and async UX 26:46 Step functions and background tasks 30:04 Are agents ready for real-time UX? 33:19 Human-in-the-loop patterns 35:59 Where to find Andre Follow Andre Landgraf on Social Media:Twitter: https://x.com/AndreLandgraf94Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-landgraf/Sponsored by This Dot Labs: thisdotlabs.com