Getting started

Your first crewChapter 5 of 142 min read

What makes an agent work Your first agent

Set up the project environment, configure language model access, and download the commercial contract your agents will review.

Project setup#

Create an isolated workspace and install the required dependencies:

Terminal

1$ mkdir contract-crew && cd contract-crew
2$ python3.13 -m venv env
3$ source env/bin/activate
4
5(env)$ pip install crewai==1.15.28 crewai-tools==1.15.28

Choose a model#

CrewAI reads provider configurations from environment variables. Set MODEL to your target language model in a .env file:

.env

1# .env
2
3MODEL=gpt-4.1-mini
4OPENAI_API_KEY=<your-openai-api-key>

To run models locally without API fees, install Ollama and pull an open-weights model:

Terminal

1$ ollama pull llama3.2

.env

1# .env
2
3MODEL=ollama/llama3.2

Exclude credentials and build artifacts from version control:

.gitignore

# .gitignore
.envenvoutput__pycache__

Sample contract#

The crew reviews a commercial software agreement between Acme Analytics and Northwind Traders. Download the document into a contracts directory:

Terminal

1(env)$ mkdir contracts
2(env)$ curl -o contracts/acme-saas-agreement.md https://textview.ai/learn-files/introduction-to-agentic-systems/acme-saas-agreement.md

Review the renewal and pricing terms in Section 2:

Markdown

1## 2. Term and renewal
2
32.1 The initial term starts on the Effective Date and lasts 12 months.
4
52.2 After the initial term, this Agreement renews automatically for successive 12-month renewal terms unless either party gives written notice of non-renewal at least 60 days before the end of the then-current term.
6
72.3 Provider may increase the fees for any renewal term by up to 7% by giving Customer notice at least 30 days before that renewal term starts.

Verify your initial directory structure:

Project structure

contract-crew├── .env├── .gitignore└── contracts    └── acme-saas-agreement.md

Initialize version control to track project changes:

Terminal

1(env)$ git init && git add . && git commit -m "Initial commit"