Installation

Welcome to AgentB! Setting up is quick and easy.

Prerequisites

• Node.js: Version 18.x or later is recommended.

• Package Manager: npm (usually comes with Node.js) or yarn.

Install AgentB Packages

You'll typically need two packages:

1. @ulifeai/agentb: The core framework for building and running your agents.

2. @ulifeai/agentb-ui: (Optional) Pre-built React components for a chat interface.

Open your project terminal and run:

# Using npm
npm install @ulifeai/agentb @ulifeai/agentb-ui

# Using yarn
yarn add @ulifeai/agentb @ulifeai/agentb-ui

If you don't need the UI components immediately, you can just install the core package:

# Using npm
npm install @ulifeai/agentb

# Using yarn
yarn add @ulifeai/agentb

Environment Variables (Especially for OpenAI)

Most AI agents connect to a Large Language Model (LLM) provider, like OpenAI. AgentB makes this easy but requires your API key.

1. Install dotenv: This helper loads environment variables from a .env file.

   npm install dotenv
   yarn add dotenv

2. Create a .env file: In the root directory of your project, create a file named .env and add your OpenAI API key:

   OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-your_openai_api_key_here"

   Replace sk-your_openai_api_key_here with your actual key.

3. Load dotenv in your app: At the very beginning of your main application file (e.g., index.ts or server.ts), add:

   import * as dotenv from 'dotenv';
   dotenv.config();
   
   // Your AgentB application code will go here

This ensures your OPENAI_API_KEY is available to AgentB when it initializes the LLM client.

TypeScript Setup (Recommended)

AgentB is written in TypeScript and works best in a TypeScript project. If you're starting a new project or adding AgentB to an existing one, here's a typical tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "module": "commonjs", // Or "ESNext" for ESM projects
    "lib": ["ES2020", "DOM"], // "DOM" might be needed for UI parts or if web-related code exists
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "resolveJsonModule": true, // Good for importing JSON-based OpenAPI specs
    "outDir": "./dist",       // Your build output directory
    "rootDir": "./src"        // Your source code directory
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"],    // Where your .ts files are
  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist"]
}

Adjust target, module, rootDir, and outDir to fit your project structure.

You're all set! Now you're ready to build your first agent in the next tutorial.