Build Your First Agent

A tool-using agent with @llm_chat in 10 minutes

Build Your First Agent

This guide builds a simple agent that can use tools to answer questions. You’ll see the full loop: user message → LLM reasoning → tool call → tool result → final response.

Define a Tool

Tools are async functions decorated with @tool:

from SimpleLLMFunc import tool


@tool
async def search_docs(query: str) -> str:
    """
    Search the documentation for relevant information.

    Args:
        query: The search query.

    Returns:
        Matching documentation excerpts.

    Best Practices:
        - Use specific, focused queries.
        - Prefer exact terms over vague descriptions.
    """
    # In reality, this would search a vector store or API
    if "install" in query.lower():
        return "Install with: pip install SimpleLLMFunc"
    return f"No results found for: {query}"

Key points:

• Tools MUST be async def
• The docstring becomes the tool’s description for the LLM
• Best Practices section is injected into the system prompt as usage guidance
• Return type annotation tells the framework what to expect

Define the Agent

from SimpleLLMFunc import OpenAICompatible, llm_chat

models = OpenAICompatible.load_from_json_file("provider.json")
llm = models["openrouter"]["openai/gpt-4o"]


@llm_chat(llm_interface=llm, toolkit=[search_docs], stream=True)
async def assistant(message: str, history: list | None = None):
    """
    You are a helpful documentation assistant.
    Answer questions using the search tool when you need specific information.
    Be concise and direct.
    """
    pass

Key points:

• @llm_chat creates a multi-turn agent (vs @llm_function for single calls)
• toolkit=[...] gives the agent access to tools
• stream=True enables streaming responses
• history parameter name is special — the framework manages conversation state through it
• The docstring is the agent’s system prompt

Run and Consume Events

@llm_chat returns an async generator of ReactOutput — either response chunks or lifecycle events:

import asyncio
from SimpleLLMFunc.hooks import is_response_yield, is_event_yield


async def main():
    history = []

    async for output in assistant("How do I install SimpleLLMFunc?", history):
        if is_response_yield(output):
            # Final response text
            print(output.response, end="")
            history = output.messages  # Updated history for next turn
        elif is_event_yield(output):
            # Lifecycle events (tool calls, LLM chunks, etc.)
            event = output.event
            # You can log, display, or react to events here

    print()  # newline after streaming


asyncio.run(main())

What Happened Under the Hood

1. User message "How do I install SimpleLLMFunc?" → compiled into LLM request
2. LLM decides to call search_docs(query="install SimpleLLMFunc")
3. Framework executes tool, gets result
4. Result is applied to the transcript through an internal runtime patch
5. Context re-compiled, sent back to LLM
6. LLM generates final response using tool result
7. Response streamed back as ReactOutput events

This is the ReAct loop — reason, act, observe, repeat. The framework handles all of it. You defined a function signature and a tool.

Add More Tools

@tool
async def calculate(expression: str) -> float:
    """
    Evaluate a mathematical expression.

    Args:
        expression: A Python math expression (e.g., "2 ** 10").

    Returns:
        The numeric result.

    Best Practices:
        - Use Python syntax for math operations.
        - Keep expressions simple and readable.
    """
    return float(eval(expression))  # simplified for demo


@llm_chat(llm_interface=llm, toolkit=[search_docs, calculate], stream=True)
async def assistant(message: str, history: list | None = None):
    """You are a helpful assistant that can search docs and do math."""
    pass

What’s Next

Multi-Turn Chat

Manage longer conversations with history and streaming.

Why This Design?

Understand why LLM calls are functions, not chains.