Crew Configuration

Learn how to configure and work with crews in AxCrew

What is a Crew?

A Crew in AxCrew is a team of agents that work together to achieve common goals. Crews provide:

Shared Context: All agents in a crew share the same state
Dependency Management: Crews automatically handle agent dependencies
Coordinated Execution: Agents can leverage each other's capabilities
Unified Configuration: Define all your agents in one place

Crew Configuration Options

A crew is defined by a JSON configuration object that includes all agents:

{
  "crew": [
    {
      "name": "Calculator",
      "description": "Performs mathematical calculations",
      "signature": "equation:string -> result:number",
      "provider": "openai",
      "providerKeyName": "OPENAI_API_KEY",
      "ai": { "model": "gpt-3.5-turbo", "temperature": 0 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Planner",
      "description": "Creates a plan to complete a task",
      "signature": "task:string -> plan:string",
      "provider": "google-gemini",
      "providerKeyName": "GEMINI_API_KEY",
      "ai": { "model": "gemini-1.5-pro", "temperature": 0 }
    },
    {
      "name": "Manager",
      "description": "Manages task execution",
      "signature": "question:string, plan:string -> answer:string",
      "provider": "anthropic",
      "providerKeyName": "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY",
      "ai": { "model": "claude-3-sonnet", "temperature": 0.2 },
      "agents": ["Planner", "Calculator"]
    }
  ]
}

Initializing a Crew

You can initialize a crew in multiple ways:

import { AxCrew, AxCrewFunctions } from '@amitdeshmukh/ax-crew';
 
// Using a direct configuration object
const config = {
  crew: [
    // Agent configurations
  ]
};
const crew = new AxCrew(config, AxCrewFunctions);

The second parameter is a function registry that provides tools available to your agents.

Adding Agents to a Crew

There are three ways to add agents to your crew:

Method 1: Add All Agents

// Initialize all agents defined in the config
await crew.addAllAgents();
 
// Get agent instances
const planner = crew.agents?.get("Planner");
const manager = crew.agents?.get("Manager");

This method:

Reads all agents from your configuration
Automatically determines the correct initialization order based on dependencies
Initializes all agents in the proper sequence

Method 2: Add Multiple Agents with Dependencies

// Add multiple agents - dependencies will be handled automatically
await crew.addAgentsToCrew(['Manager', 'Planner', 'Calculator']);
 
// Or add them in multiple steps - order doesn't matter
await crew.addAgentsToCrew(['Calculator']); // Will be initialized first
await crew.addAgentsToCrew(['Manager']);    // Will initialize dependencies

Method 3: Add Individual Agents

// Add agents one by one - you must handle dependencies manually
await crew.addAgent('Calculator'); // Add base agent first
await crew.addAgent('Planner');    // Then its dependent
await crew.addAgent('Manager');    // Then agents that depend on both

Shared State in Crews

One of the most powerful features of crews is shared state. All agents in a crew have access to the same state:

// Set state at crew level
crew.state.set('name', 'Crew1');
crew.state.set('location', 'Earth');
 
// Access from any agent
const planner = crew.agents.get("Planner");
planner.state.get('name'); // 'Crew1'
 
// Set state from an agent
planner.state.set('plan', 'Fly to Mars');
 
// Access the updated state from another agent
const manager = crew.agents.get("Manager");
manager.state.getAll(); // { name: 'Crew1', location: 'Earth', plan: 'Fly to Mars' }

Dependency Management

Crews handle agent dependencies intelligently:

{
  "name": "Manager",
  // ... other config ...
  "agents": ["Planner", "Calculator"] // Dependencies
}

When a dependent agent (like Manager) is initialized, the crew ensures all its dependencies (Planner and Calculator) are initialized first.

Task Execution Example

Here's how you might use a crew to solve a problem:

import { AxCrew, AxCrewFunctions } from '@amitdeshmukh/ax-crew';
 
// Create and initialize the crew
const crew = new AxCrew(config, AxCrewFunctions);
await crew.addAgentsToCrew(['Planner', 'Calculator', 'Manager']);
 
// Get agent instances
const planner = crew.agents.get("Planner");
const manager = crew.agents.get("Manager");
 
// User query
const userQuery = "What's the square root of the number of days until Christmas?";
 
// Execute the task in stages
const planResponse = await planner.forward({ task: userQuery });
const managerResponse = await manager.forward({ 
  question: userQuery, 
  plan: planResponse.plan 
});
 
console.log(`Plan: ${planResponse.plan}`);
console.log(`Answer: ${managerResponse.answer}`);

Tracking Crew Costs

The AxCrew system provides detailed cost tracking:

// Get aggregated costs for all agents in the crew
const crewCosts = crew.getAggregatedCosts();
console.log(crewCosts);
/*
{
  totalCost: "0.0025482500000",
  byAgent: {
    "Planner": { ... },
    "Calculator": { ... },
    "Manager": { ... }
  },
  aggregatedMetrics: {
    promptTokens: 850,
    completionTokens: 324,
    totalTokens: 1174
  }
}
*/
 
// Reset cost tracking if needed
crew.resetCosts();

Crew Configuration

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