Build AI Agents That Work While You Sleep: Complete 2026 Tutorial

What Are AI Agents?

AI agents are autonomous systems that can make decisions and perform tasks without constant human supervision.

Prerequisites

Step 1: Setup Environment

# Install required packages
pip install langchain openai python-dotenv

# Create .env file
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Step 2: Build Your First AI Agent

from langchain.agents import initialize_agent, Tool
from langchain.llms import OpenAI
from langchain.utilities import SerpAPIWrapper

# Initialize LLM
llm = OpenAI(temperature=0)

# Define tools
search = SerpAPIWrapper()
tools = [
    Tool(
        name="Search",
        func=search.run,
        description="Search the internet"
    )
]

# Create agent
agent = initialize_agent(
    tools, 
    llm, 
    agent="zero-shot-react-description",
    verbose=True
)

# Run agent
result = agent.run("Find latest AI news")

Step 3: Add Memory

from langchain.memory import ConversationBufferMemory

memory = ConversationBufferMemory()

agent = initialize_agent(
    tools,
    llm,
    agent="conversational-react-description",
    memory=memory,
    verbose=True
)

Step 4: Multi-Agent System

from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew

# Define agents
researcher = Agent(
    role='Researcher',
    goal='Find accurate information',
    backstory='Expert at research'
)

writer = Agent(
    role='Writer',
    goal='Write engaging content',
    backstory='Professional writer'
)

# Define tasks
research_task = Task(
    description='Research AI trends',
    agent=researcher
)

write_task = Task(
    description='Write article',
    agent=writer
)

# Create crew
crew = Crew(
    agents=[researcher, writer],
    tasks=[research_task, write_task]
)

result = crew.kickoff()

Real-World Use Cases

Deployment Guide

Best Practices

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