OpenTeams Engineering Blog

Python, AI & Open Source

Hands-on engineering articles from the OpenTeams team on Python tooling, AI agents, LLMs, and open-source workflows used in real production.

Built in production, shared in the open.

PDF Table Extraction: Docling vs Marker vs LlamaParse Compared

Compare three Python tools for PDF table extraction: Docling, Marker, and LlamaParse. Learn which handles merged cells and multi-level headers best.

By Khuyen Tran

Sandboxing Code Mode for Local LLM Agents

Code mode can make local LLM agents more practical, but executing model-written code brings sandboxing back into the architecture.

By Nick Byrne & Khuyen Tran

Slow Down — Simple Lessons for Guiding AI and Shipping Better Code

Practical lessons for shipping better code, staying in control, keeping your skills sharp, and getting real value from AI coding tools without losing yourself in the hype.

By Johnny Bouder

We Benchmarked 6 Python Package Managers on a Real ML Project

Head-to-head benchmark of pixi, uv, conda, mamba, pip, and poetry on a real ML/AI project with 25+ mixed conda-forge and PyPI dependencies.

By Brandon Geraci

Plugin Playground AI Integration for Faster Plugin Prototyping

How we integrated AI into Plugin Playground to help you create, edit, test, package, and share JupyterLab plugins faster in JupyterLite and Binder.

By Anuj Kumar Singh

What I Learned Making a Local LLM Do Real Work

What makes a local LLM agent reliable enough for real work: evals, deterministic Python logic, and why a better model beats engineering.

By Adam Lewis

From Skill to Agent: When a Text File Isn’t Enough

When does a Claude Code skill stop being enough? See why credential security pushes real workflows toward proper agent architectures.

By Adam Lewis

Building the Infrastructure for a Distributed AI Economy

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