> Markdown version of [/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1099-headless-by-design](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1099-headless-by-design). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

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# Headless by Design: Building Enterprise Systems That Agents Can Actually Use


- **Date:** Thursday, Jul 9, 2026
- **Time:** 14:10–14:40 (30 min)
- **Room:** Stage 11
- **Event:** World Congress 2026 Europe

## Recording

[Watch recording](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100092-headless-by-design-building-enterprise-systems-that-agents-can-actually-use)

## Description

AI agents don't log in — they call APIs and execute logic at machine speed. Most enterprise architectures were built for humans, not machines, and that gap is quietly killing agentic workflows before they go live.

This session gets into the engineering reality of headless-first design: composable APIs, decoupled logic layers, and integration patterns that let any agent, app, or experience plug in without friction — regardless of your stack.

Leave with a clear framework for evaluating your architecture's agentic readiness, and three questions to bring back to your team on Monday.


## Speaker

### [Dirk Gronert](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@dirk-gronert)

Distinguished Technical Architect at Salesforce


## Related talks at this congress

- [Build Agents Once, Run Them Anywhere: AI Systems That Survive Change](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1471-build-agents-once) — Isha Salania
- [POC Prison: Why agentic systems never escape the lab and how to fix that in 90 days](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1325-poc-prison-why) — Luise Freese
- [When Should You Use an Agent? Architectural Trade-offs in Agentic Systems](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1110-when-should-you-use) — Matheus Guimaraes
- [Designing for Agents Will Make You Better at Designing for Humans](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1443-designing-for-agents) — Dana Lawson