Your first agent

An agent is an object with a name and a set of instructions. That is all it takes to make one, and nothing runs when you do.

python

from agents import Agent

support = Agent(
    name="Support",
    instructions="You answer questions about orders. Be brief.",
)

The name is for you and for the traces you will read later. The instructions are what the model is told about how to behave, every single turn.

Example

print("name:        ", support.name)
print("instructions:", support.instructions)
print("tools:       ", support.tools)

No tools yet, and no model named either. Creating an agent does not call anything, which is why this runs with no key and no network.

What an agent is not

It is not a running process, and it is not a conversation. It is a description: who this is, what it is told, what it can use. Something else has to take that description and run it, and that arrives in lesson 4.

The panel

Try changing the instructions in the panel and running it again. Nothing about the output changes except the line you edited, which is worth seeing once so the next lessons are not surprising.

Try it yourself

Change the name and run it again.
Add a second agent with different instructions and print both.
Print support on its own and look at everything an agent carries.

PreviousWhat you are going to build

Little by little, you're building something great.