EnableAgentShell

Enables an interactive command-line shell interface for Embabel Agent applications.

This annotation configures your Spring Boot application to run in interactive shell mode, providing a REPL-like environment for testing, debugging, and interacting with your agents in real-time. It's the recommended way to develop and test agents before deploying them as services or MCP servers.

What This Provides:

• Activates the "shell" Spring profile
• Configures Spring Shell for interactive command-line interface
• Auto-discovers and registers all @Agent annotated classes
• Provides built-in commands for agent interaction and testing
• Enables human-in-the-loop interactions and form handling
• Sets up progress tracking and detailed logging capabilities

Example Usage:

public class AgentShellApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(AgentShellApplication.class, args);
    }
}

Available Shell Commands:

• help - Display all available commands
• list - Show all registered agents
• execute "<request>" [-p] [-r] - Run an agent with a request
  • -p - Log prompts sent to LLMs
  • -r - Log responses from LLMs
• chat - Enter interactive chat mode with agents
• clear - Clear the console screen
• exit - Exit the application

Testing Agents:

The shell mode is ideal for:

• Rapid prototyping of agent workflows
• Testing prompt engineering and LLM interactions
• Debugging agent action sequences
• Demonstrating agent capabilities to stakeholders
• Integration testing with real LLM providers

Tips for Effective Usage:

• Use -p -r flags initially to understand agent behavior
• Test edge cases interactively before writing unit tests
• Use the chat command for multi-turn conversations
• Export shell history for documentation or test cases

See also