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🧪 Tutorial Projects🚀 Getting Started

Preface

This tutorial guides you through setting up the foundation for developing multiple agents using Agentica. Regardless of whether an agent is designed for email processing, workflow automation, or data handling, there are common tasks that all agents must perform. This guide walks you through the essential setup process to establish a consistent and scalable development environment.





Project Setup

First, create a new project using agentica cli.

# Run agentica cli. A project folder named “agentica-test” will be created.
npx agentica start agentica-test

If you are asked the following questions, press y. Installing the agentica package to use agentica cli.

Need to install the following packages:
agentica@version
Ok to proceed? (y)

Choose package manager and Project Type.

? Package Manager (Use arrow keys)
❯ npm
  pnpm
  yarn (berry is not supported)
  bun
 
? Project Type
  Standalone Application
  NodeJS Agent Server
  NestJS Agent Server
  React Client Application
  React Native Client Application
❯ NestJS + React Agent Server + Client Application

If you choose the project type except Standalone, you should enter the port number.

? Server Port(if project is client app, this port mean ws server port): (3000)

Select connectors that you want to use. If you don’t want to use any connector, Just press the enter.

? Embedded Controllers (Press <space> to select, <a> to toggle all, <i> to invert selection, and <enter> to proceed)
❯◯ ARXIV SEARCH
 ◯ AWS S3
 ◯ CALENDLY
 ◯ CAREER
 ◯ CSV
 ◯ DALL E-3
 ◯ DAUM BLOG
   ...

Finally, enter you openai api key.

? Please enter your OPENAI_API_KEY: YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY

After the project is created, move into the project folder.

cd agentica-test

In this tutorial, we will use the following:

  • Package Manager : npm
  • Project Type : NestJS + React
  • Server Port : 3000
  • Embedded Controllers : Nothing

Generated Code Overview

The generated code in NestJS project is as follows:

// server/src/controllers/chat/ChatController.ts
@Controller("chat")
export class MyChatController {
  @WebSocketRoute()
  public async start(
    @WebSocketRoute.Acceptor()
    acceptor: WebSocketAcceptor<
      undefined,
      IAgenticaRpcService,
      IAgenticaRpcListener
    >
  ): Promise<void> {
    const agent: Agentica = new Agentica({
      vendor: {
        api: new OpenAI({ apiKey: MyGlobal.env.OPENAI_API_KEY }),
        model: "gpt-4o-mini",
      },
      controllers: [
        assertHttpController({
          name: "bbs",
          document: await fetch(
            `http://localhost:${MyConfiguration.API_PORT()}/editor/swagger.json`
          ).then((r) => r.json()),
          connection: {
            host: `http://localhost:${MyConfiguration.API_PORT()}`,
            headers: {
              Authorization: "Bearer *****",
            },
          },
        }),
      ],
    });
    const service: AgenticaRpcService = new AgenticaRpcService({
      agent,
      listener: acceptor.getDriver(),
    });
    await acceptor.accept(service);
  }
}

This code sets up an Agent that runs tool calling to the localhost using the fetched Swagger.

Project Build & Start

When you select the project type as NestJS + React, there are client and server folders.

  • client is the React project.
  • server is the NestJS project.

Open two terminals and run the following commands.

  • You should build first before running the project.

Run React Project

# move to react project folder
cd client
 
# install dependencies
npm install
 
# build & run
npm run build && npm run start

Run NestJS Project

# move to nestjs project folder
cd server
 
# install dependencies
npm install
 
# build & run
npm run build && npm run start

Environment Variables

If you want to use the environment variables in the project, you need to add environment variables to .env file.

OPENAI_API_KEY=YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY
 
# your api keys. for example, google, github, aws and so on.
GOOGLE_API_KEY=YOUR_GOOGLE_API_KEY

Why This Setup Matters

This setup ensures that multiple agents can be developed in a standardized manner. Regardless of the agent’s purpose, the following elements are essential:

  • Structured development environment (TypeScript & tsconfig)
  • AI processing capabilities (OpenAI API integration)
  • Core agent framework (Agentica Core)
  • Efficient type handling (Typia for serialization and validation)
  • Environment variable management (dotenv for API key security)

By following these steps, all agents will share a consistent architecture, making it significantly easier to scale, maintain, and extend their functionality.

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