An Open Source Initiative Led by John Tan Chong Min
Road Map (Currently at Alpha):
Agentic System Overview:
-
Discussion Channel + AgentJo Logo Design Competition (John's AI Group): https://discord.gg/bzp87AHJy5
-
Grand Vision of AgentJo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1BHvKRnhYY
-
AgentJo v0 (TaskGen) Paper: https://web3.arxiv.org/pdf/2407.15734
-
AgentJo v0 (TaskGen) Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3usuxs2p1Y
-
Related Repositories: StrictJSON (https://github.com/tanchongmin/strictjson) [Do help star this as well!]
- Idea for AgentJo was built over 5 years (2019 - 2024) during John's PhD, guided by Prof. Mehul Motani
- Initial version (v0) of AgentJo (TaskGen) was done during John's time at Simbian AI (Feb - Oct 2024), alongside talented individuals such as Prince Saroj, Brian Lim, Richard Cottrill, Bharat Runwal, Hardik
Happy to share that we are beginning the phase to augment agents and incorporate them in larger systems.
What has been done:
- Splitting of Tasks into subtasks for bite-sized solutions for each subtask
- Single Agent with LLM Functions
- Single Agent with External Functions
- Meta Agent with Inner Agents as Functions
- Shared Variables for multi-modality support
- Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) over Function space
- Memory to provide additional task-based prompts for task
- Global Context for configuring your own prompts + add persistent variables
- Async mode for Agent, Function and
strict_json,parse_yaml
AgentJo uses StrictJSON (LLM structured output parser with type checking and more!) as the core, and agents are efficient and are able to do Chain of Thought natively using structured output.
What can you do to help (see contrib folder for more details):
- Star the github so more people can use it (It's open source and free to use, even commercially!)
- Contribute template Jupyter Notebooks for your favourite use cases so it can be much more boilerplate for others to use :)
- Contribute Agent Wrappers that imbue additional functions to the base agent (e.g Planner, Reflector, Conversation)
- Contribute Memory classes that allow the Agent to store and extract various kinds of memories according to the task
I can't wait to see what this new framework can do for you!
- Helps do Chain-of-Thought prompting naturally and is less verbose than free text
- Allows for natural parsing of multiple output fields by agents
strict_json/parse_yamlhelps to ensure all output fields are there and of the right format required for downstream processing
- Created: 17 Feb 2024 by John Tan Chong Min
- Lead Documentation: Brian Lim
- Paper Research Staff: Prince Saroj, Hardik Maheshwari, Bharat Runwal, Brian Lim, Richard Cottrill
- Logo Designer: Boddu Sri Pavan
- Collaborators welcome
- Download package via command line
pip install agentjo(For file reading capabilities in memory, usepip install agentjo[full]) - Set up your LLM and provide any API keys if needed
- Import the required functions from
agentjoand use them!
- Default model is now gpt-4o-mini
- Thinking models like gpt-o3-mini, gemini-2.0-flash-thinking-exp can be used as well, but many times just adding a "Thoughts" in the
output_formatwill suffice and is quicker to process
-
Create an agent by entering your agent's name and description
-
Agents are task-based, so they will help generate subtasks to fulfil your main task
-
Agents are made to be non-verbose, so they will just focus only on task instruction (Much more efficient compared to conversational-based agentic frameworks like AutoGen)
-
Agent's interactions will be stored into
subtasks_completedby default, which will serve as a memory buffer for future interactions -
Inputs for Agent:
- agent_name: String. Name of agent, hinting at what the agent does
- agent_description: String. Short description of what the agent does
- max_subtasks: Int. Default: 5. The maximum number of subtasks the agent can have
- verbose: Bool. Default: True. Whether to print out agent's intermediate thoughts
- llm: Function. The LLM to be used by the Agent
-
Agent Internal Parameters:
- Task: String. The task the agent has been assigned to - Defaults to "No task assigned"
- Subtasks Completed: Dict. The keys are the subtask names and the values are the result of the respective subtask
- Is Task Completed: Bool. Whether the current Task is completed
-
Task Running
- reset(): Resets the Agent Internal Parameters and Subtasks Completed. You should do this at the start of every new task assigned to the Agent to minimise potential confusion of what has been done for this task versus previous tasks
- run(task: str, num_subtasks: int = max_subtasks): Performs the task. Do note that agent's state will not be reset, so if you want to reset it, call reset() prior to running this. Runs the task for num_subtasks steps. If not specified, we will take the max_subtasks.
-
Give User Output
- reply_user(query: str = '', stateful: bool = True): Using all information from subtasks, give a reply about the
queryto the user. Ifqueryis not given, then it replies based on the current task the agent is doing. Ifstatefulis True, saves this query and reply intosubtasks_completed
- reply_user(query: str = '', stateful: bool = True): Using all information from subtasks, give a reply about the
-
Check status of Agent:
- status(): Lists out Agent Name, Agent Description, Available Functions (default function is to use the LLM), Task, Subtasks Completed and Is Task Completed
my_agent = Agent('Helpful assistant', 'You are a generalist agent', llm = llm)output = my_agent.run('Give me 5 words rhyming with cool, and make a 4-sentence poem using them')Subtask identified: Find 5 words that rhyme with 'cool'
Getting LLM to perform the following task: Find 5 words that rhyme with 'cool'
pool, rule, fool, tool, school
Subtask identified: Compose a 4-sentence poem using the words 'pool', 'rule', 'fool', 'tool', and 'school'
Getting LLM to perform the following task: Compose a 4-sentence poem using the words 'pool', 'rule', 'fool', 'tool', and 'school'
In the school, the golden rule is to never be a fool. Use your mind as a tool, and always follow the pool.
Task completed successfully!
my_agent.status()Agent Name: Helpful assistant
Agent Description: You are a generalist a
8000
gent
Available Functions: ['use_llm', 'end_task']
Task: Give me 5 words rhyming with cool, and make a 4-sentence poem using them
Subtasks Completed:
Subtask: Find 5 words that rhyme with 'cool'
pool, rule, fool, tool, school
Subtask: Compose a 4-sentence poem using the words 'pool', 'rule', 'fool', 'tool', and 'school'
In the school, the golden rule is to never be a fool. Use your mind as a tool, and always follow the pool.
Is Task Completed: True
output = my_agent.reply_user()Here are 5 words that rhyme with "cool": pool, rule, fool, tool, school. Here is a 4-sentence poem using these words: "In the school, the golden rule is to never be a fool. Use your mind as a tool, and always follow the pool."
- First define the functions, either using class
Function(see Tutorial 0), or just any Python function with input and output types defined in the signature and with a docstring - After creating your agent, use
assign_functionsto assign a list of functions of classFunction, or general Python functions (which will be converted to AsyncFunction) - Function names will be automatically inferred if not specified
- Proceed to run tasks by using
run()
# This is an example of an LLM-based function
sentence_style = Function(fn_description = 'Output a sentence with <number> and <entity> in the style of <emotion>',
output_format = {'output': 'sentence'},
fn_name = 'sentence_with_number_entities_emotion',
llm = llm)
# This is an example of an external user-defined function
def binary_to_decimal(binary_number: str) -> int:
'''Converts binary_number to integer of base 10'''
return int(str(binary_number), 2)
# Initialise your agent and assign the functions
my_agent = Agent('Helpful assistant', 'You are a generalist agent',
llm = llm).assign_functions([sentence_style, binary_to_decimal])
# Run the Agent
output = my_agent.run('First convert binary string 1001 to a number, then generate me a happy sentence with that number and a ball')Subtask identified: Convert the binary number 1001 to decimal
Calling function binary_to_decimal with parameters {'x': '1001'}
{'output1': 9}
Subtask identified: Generate a happy sentence with the decimal number and a ball
Calling function sentence_with_number_entities_emotion with parameters {'number': '9', 'entity': 'ball', 'emotion': 'happy'}
{'output': 'I am so happy with my 9 balls.'}
Task completed successfully!
-
Approach 1: Automatically Run your agent using
run() -
Approach 2: Manually select and use functions for your task
- select_function(task: str): Based on the task, output the next function name and input parameters
- use_function(function_name: str, function_params: dict, subtask: str = '', stateful: bool = True): Uses the function named
function_namewithfunction_params.statefulcontrols whether the output of this function will be saved tosubtasks_completedunder the key ofsubtask
-
Assign/Remove Functions:
- assign_functions(function_list: list): Assigns a list of functions to the agent
- remove_function(function_name: str): Removes function named function_name from the list of assigned functions
-
Show Functions:
- list_functions(): Returns the list of functions of the agent
- print_functions(): Prints the list of functions of the agent
AsyncAgentworks the same way asAgent, only much faster due to parallelisation of tasks- It can only be assigned functions of class
AsyncFunction, or general Python functions (which will be converted to AsyncFunction) - If you define your own
AsyncFunction, you should define the fn_name as well if it is not an External Function - As a rule of thumb, just add the
awaitkeyword to any function that you run with theAsyncAgent
async def llm_async(system_prompt: str, user_prompt: str):
''' Here, we use OpenAI for illustration, you can change it to your own LLM '''
# ensure your LLM imports are all within this function
from openai import AsyncOpenAI
# define your own LLM here
client = AsyncOpenAI()
response = await client.chat.completions.create(
model='gpt-4o-mini',
temperature = 0,
messages=[
{"role": "system", "content": system_prompt},
{"role": "user", "content": user_prompt}
]
)
return response.choices[0].message.content# This is an example of an LLM-based function
sentence_style = AsyncFunction(fn_description = 'Output a sentence with <number> and <entity> in the style of <emotion>',
output_format = {'output': 'sentence'},
fn_name = 'sentence_with_number_entities_emotion',
llm = llm_async)
# This is an example of an external user-defined function (see Tutorial 0)
def binary_to_decimal(binary_number: str) -> int:
'''Converts binary_number to integer of base 10'''
return int(str(binary_number), 2)
# Initialise your Agent and assign functions
my_agent = AsyncAgent('Helpful assistant', 'You are a generalist agent',
llm = llm_async).assign_functions([sentence_style, binary_to_decimal])
# Run the Agent
output = await my_agent.run('First convert binary string 1001 to a number, then generate me a happy sentence with that number and a ball')"Because text is not enough" - Anonymous
shared_variablesis a dictionary, that is initialised in Agent (default empty dictionary), and can be referenced by any function of the agent (including Inner Agents and their functions)- This can be useful for non-text modalities (e.g. audio, pdfs, image) and lengthy text modalities, which we do not want to output into
subtasks_completeddirectly - To use, simply define an External Function with
shared_variablesas the first input variable, from which you can access and modifyshared_variablesdirectly - The agent will also be able to be self-referenced in the External Function via
shared_variables['agent'], so you can change the agent's internal parameters viashared_variables - If the function has no output because the output is stored in
shared_variables, the default return value will be{'Status': 'Completed'}
# Use shared_variables as input to your external function to access and modify the shared variables
def generate_quotes(shared_variables, number_of_quotes: int, category: str):
''' Generates number_of_quotes quotes about category '''
# Retrieve from shared variables
my_quote_list = shared_variables['Quote List']
# Generate the quotes
res = strict_json(system_prompt = f'''Generate {number_of_quotes} sentences about {category}.
Do them in the format "<Quote> - <Person>", e.g. "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. - Walt Disney"
Ensure your quotes contain only ' within the quote, and are enclosed by " ''',
user_prompt = '',
output_format = {'Quote List': f'list of {number_of_quotes} quotes, type: List[str]'},
llm = llm)
my_quote_list.extend([f'Category: {category}. '+ x for x in res['Quote List']])
# Store back to shared variables
shared_variables['Quote List'] = my_quote_list-
Global Contextis a very powerful feature in AgentJo, as it allows the Agent to be updated with the latest environmental state before every decision it makes -
It also allows for learnings in
shared_variablesto be carried across tasks, making the Agent teachable and learn through experiences -
A recommended practice is to always store the learnings of the Agent during the External Function call, and reset the Agent after each task, so that
subtasks_completedwill be as short as possible to avoid confusion to the Agent -
There are two ways to use
Global Context, and both can be used concurrently:-
global_context
- If all you need in the global context is
shared_variableswithout any modification to it, then you can useglobal_context global_contextis a string with<shared_variables_name>enclosed with<>. These <> will be replaced with the actual variable inshared_variables
-
get_global_context
get_global_contextis a function that takes in the agent's internal parameters (self) and outputs a string to the LLM to append to the prompts of any LLM-based calls internally, e.g.get_next_subtask,use_llm,reply_to_user
- You have full flexibility to access anything the agent knows and process the
shared_variablesas required and configure a global prompt to the agent
-
- We can use
Global Contextto keep track of inventory state - We simply get the functions
add_item_to_inventoryandremove_item_from_inventoryto modify theshared_variablenamedInventory - Note we can also put rule-based checks like checking if item is in inventory before removing inside the function
- Even after task reset, the Agent still knows the inventory because of
Global Context
def add_item_to_inventory(shared_variables, item: str) -> str:
''' Adds item to inventory, and returns outcome of action '''
shared_variables['Inventory'].append(item)
return f'{item} successfully added to Inventory'
def remove_item_from_inventory(shared_variables, item: str) -> str:
''' Removes item from inventory and returns outcome of action '''
if item in shared_variables['Inventory']:
shared_variables['Inventory'].remove(item)
return f'{item} successfully removed from Inventory'
else:
return f'{item} not found in Inventory, unable to remove'
agent = Agent('Inventory Manager',
'Adds and removes items in Inventory. Only able to remove items if present in Inventory',
shared_variables = {'Inventory': []},
global_context = 'Inventory: <Inventory>', # Add in Global Context here with shared_variables Inventory
llm = llm).assign_functions([add_item_to_inventory, remove_item_from_inventory])- There are other features like Memory (Tutorial 3), Hierarchical Agents (Tutorial 4), CodeGen and External Function Interfacing (Tutorial 5), Conversation Class (Tutorial 6)
- These extend the baseline features of AgentJo and you are encouraged to take a look at the Tutorials for more information.
- There is an ongoing beta testing of YAML parsing (more efficient and reliable) using the
parse_yamlfunction in StrictJSON repo. It is currently the default in AgentJo and is meant to be the more robust choice for longer text, nested outputs and code blocks. - However, smaller LLMs are known to output JSON better than YAML.
- If
parse_yamldoes not work for you, to revert back tostrict_json, simply setllm_parserto bestrict_jsonandllm_parser_asyncto bestrict_json_asyncwhen you declare your Agents and Functions.
- Fork the repository
- Create a new branch
- Make your changes
- Push your changes to your fork
- Submit a pull request
- Contributing Agent Wrappers and Memory Classes in contrib folder
- Contribute Jupyter Notebooks in contrib folder showcasing what could be done with the framework for something useful. Let your imagination guide you, we look forward to see what you create
- Other Known Limitations - Do test the framework out extensively and note its failure cases. We will see if we can address them, if not we will put them in Known Limitations.
- (For the prompt engineer). If you could find a better way to make the prompts work, let us know directly - we do need to test this out across all Tutorial Jupyter Notebooks to make sure that it really works with existing datasets. Also, if you are using other LLMs beside OpenAI, and find the prompts do not work as well - try to rejig your own prompts and let us know as well!