Inputs: one crew, many tickets

Inputs are the values kickoff fills into a task's placeholders, so one crew answers any ticket.

Last updated: 28 Sep, 2026 · CrewAI 1.15

The agent-prompt lesson showed the task's text becoming the user message. The first-crew lesson's task had the question typed into it; a support desk needs the same crew for every ticket, so the question becomes a placeholder.

import os
import re

from crewai import BaseLLM

os.environ["CREWAI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY"] = "true"
os.environ["CREWAI_TRACING_ENABLED"] = "false"
os.environ["CREWAI_DISABLE_VERSION_CHECK"] = "true"


class ShopLLM(BaseLLM):
    def call(self, messages, tools=None, **kwargs):
        if isinstance(messages, str):
            messages = [{"role": "user", "content": messages}]
        text = messages[-1]["content"]
        orders = re.findall(r"\b[A-Z]\d+\b", text)
        if orders:
            return f"I have no way to look up {orders[0]} yet."
        return "Hello. Which order is this about?"

A task with a placeholder

from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task
from shop_llm import ShopLLM

agent = Agent(
    role="Support agent",
    goal="Answer customers of a small online shop",
    backstory="You have worked the shop's support desk for years.",
    llm=ShopLLM(model="shop"),
)
task = Task(
    description="Answer the customer: {question}",
    expected_output="One short, friendly sentence.",
    agent=agent,
)
crew = Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task])

The description now contains {question}, a placeholder in curly braces. The agent is the one from the first-crew lesson.

Filling the placeholder

result = crew.kickoff(inputs={"question": "Where is my order A17?"})
print(result.raw)

I have no way to look up A17 yet.

inputs is a dictionary. Before the crew runs, CrewAI puts each value in place of the placeholder with the same name, in task descriptions, expected outputs and the agent's role, goal and backstory.

Reporting a missing placeholder

crew.kickoff(inputs={"q": "Where is my order A17?"})

KeyError: "Template variable 'question' not found in inputs dictionary"

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "main.py", line 1, in <module>
    crew.kickoff(inputs={"q": "Where is my order A17?"})
ValueError: Missing required template variable 'Template variable 'question' not found in inputs dictionary' in description

A placeholder with no value in inputs stops the run before any model is called, and the error names the missing variable. Calling kickoff() with no inputs at all is different: nothing is filled in, and the agent is asked about the literal text {question}.

Running many tickets

tickets = [
    {"question": "Where is my order A17?"},
    {"question": "Hello, can you help me?"},
]
for result in crew.kickoff_for_each(inputs=tickets):
    print(result.raw)

I have no way to look up A17 yet.
Hello. Which order is this about?

kickoff_for_each runs the crew once per dictionary and returns the results in the same order. The first ticket names an order; the second does not, so the model asks which one.

Reading the two runs

• inputs is a dictionary; each value replaces the placeholder of the same name before the crew runs.
• A missing name stops the run early, naming the variable, before any model is called.
• kickoff_for_each runs once per ticket and returns the results in the same order.

kickoff vs kickoff_for_each

When placeholders pay off

• One crew has to answer many tickets that differ only in their text.
• You run a batch of inputs and want each result kept separate.
• The same value belongs in more than one field, such as the goal and the task.

Related

• Previous: The agent prompt: what the model is sent
• Next: Watching a crew work