Install AgentKit

This guide will walk you through installing AgentKit and completing the basic configuration.

Environment Requirements

• Python version: 3.10 or later
• Operating system: Linux, macOS
• Package manager: uv or pip recommended

We strongly recommend installing AgentKit in a Python virtual environment to avoid conflicts with system packages.

Installation Methods

Method 1: Install with pip

Stable Version

Recommended for production deployments:

pip install agentkit-sdk-python

Development Version

Includes the latest features and fixes:

pip install --pre agentkit-sdk-python

Install a Specific Version

Install a specific version:

pip install agentkit-sdk-python==0.1.7

Method 2: Install with uv (Recommended)

We recommend using uv to manage virtual environments and dependencies.

# install uv
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Initialize uv environment
uv init --no-workspace

# Specify Python version for the environment
uv venv --python 3.12

# Install AgentKit using uv
uv add agentkit-sdk-python

# Install veadk (recommended for local debugging)
uv add veadk-python

# Activate the virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

Method 3: Install from Source

For developers and customization scenarios:

Install from the official Github repository

# clone repo
git clone git@github.com:volcengine/agentkit-sdk-python.git

cd agentkit-sdk-python

# we use uv to build this project
uv venv --python 3.12

# only install necessary requirements
uv sync

# install agentkit-sdk-python with editable mode
uv pip install -e .

# Activate the virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

If you prefer pip and venv, you can also run:

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv .venv

# Activate virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

# Install AgentKit
pip install agentkit-sdk-python

Verify Installation

After installation, run the following command to verify that the agentkit CLI is available:

agentkit --version

If the version is printed successfully, AgentKit has been installed.

Authentication Configuration

Before using the agentkit CLI to interact with AgentKit Platform, you need to configure access credentials (AK/SK).

Recommended: Use global configuration

Use AgentKit’s global configuration feature to store your credentials securely:

# Initialize global configuration
agentkit config --global --init

# Set your access credentials
agentkit config --global --set volcengine.access_key="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY"
agentkit config --global --set volcengine.secret_key="YOUR_SECRET_KEY"

# Verify configuration
agentkit config --global --show

This stores credentials securely in ~/.agentkit/config.yaml, avoiding exposure of sensitive information in shell history.

Environment variables (for development debugging)

For temporary development debugging, you can set environment variables:

export VOLCENGINE_ACCESS_KEY="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY"
export VOLCENGINE_SECRET_KEY="YOUR_SECRET_KEY"

⚠️ Note: For security reasons, it is not recommended to add export commands containing sensitive information to shell configuration files (such as ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc), because this may cause credential leakage.

Next Steps

You have now installed and configured AgentKit, and you can start building your first Agent.

• Quick Start: Follow our quick start guide to experience the full workflow from development to deployment.
• Troubleshooting: If you run into issues, see the troubleshooting guide.