Prerequisites

To build agents, you need a clean environment. We will use:

• Python 3.10+
• Virtual Environments (venv or conda)
• VS Code
• Docker

Step-by-Step CLI Setup:

1. Create a project folder: mkdir agent-lab && cd agent-lab
2. Initialize venv: python -m venv venv
3. Activate: source venv/bin/activate (Mac/Linux) or venv\Scripts\activate (Win).
4. Install core libs: pip install openai python-dotenv.

Environment Variables

Never hardcode API keys. Create a .env file and use os.getenv().