> Books and videos that pair with the site's articles and patterns.

Canonical: https://tactus.anth.us/resources/

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# Resources

Books and videos that pair with the site’s articles and patterns.

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## Editor Support

Use VS Code? Install the Tactus extension for syntax highlighting, validation, and code intelligence for .tac files.

[Install from VS Code Marketplace →](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=AnthusAISolutions.tactus)

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## Videos {#videos}

Short walkthroughs and longer deep dives, paired with the articles and diagrams.

:::card-grid{columns=3 label="Videos"}
:::card{title="Intro to Tactus"}
*4 min*

What Tactus is, why tool-using agents need guardrails, and how the runtime helps.

[Watch](/videos/#intro)
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:::card{title="Why a New Language?"}
*7 min*

The evolution of programming paradigms and why Tactus was created for the age of AI agents.

[Watch](/videos/#why-new-language)
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:::card{title="Guardrails for Agent Autonomy"}
Why constraints enable autonomy: staged tools, human gates, and a secretless broker boundary (so there’s nothing in the runtime to steal).

[Watch](/videos/#guardrails)
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## The Tactus Book Series {#books}

Three complementary books: learn the patterns, dive into the reference, or keep the cheat sheet on your desk.

:::card-grid{columns=3 label="Books"}
:::card{title="Learning Tactus"}
![Learning Tactus cover](/assets/books/learning-tactus.png)

A coherent introduction: the why, the mental model, and the core patterns.

[Read](https://anthusai.github.io/Learning-Tactus/) · [PDF](https://anthusai.github.io/Learning-Tactus/pdf/Learning-Tactus.pdf) · [Repo](https://github.com/AnthusAI/Learning-Tactus)
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:::card{title="Programming Tactus"}
![Programming Tactus cover](/assets/books/programming-tactus.png)

The reference: a deeper and broader tour of the language.

[Read](https://anthusai.github.io/Programming-Tactus/) · [PDF](https://anthusai.github.io/Programming-Tactus/pdf/Programming-Tactus.pdf) · [Repo](https://github.com/AnthusAI/Programming-Tactus)
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:::card{title="Tactus in a Nutshell"}
![Tactus in a Nutshell cover](/assets/books/tactus-in-a-nutshell.png)

A quick reference for when you’re writing and debugging.

[Read](https://anthusai.github.io/Tactus-in-a-Nutshell/) · [PDF](https://anthusai.github.io/Tactus-in-a-Nutshell/pdf/Tactus-in-a-Nutshell.pdf) · [Repo](https://github.com/AnthusAI/Tactus-in-a-Nutshell)
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