Getting Embabel Running

Running the Examples

The quickest way to get started with Embabel is to run the examples:

# Clone and run examples
git clone https://github.com/embabel/embabel-agent-examples
cd embabel-agent-examples/scripts/java
./shell.sh

Note

Choose the

java

or

kotlin

scripts directory depending on your preference.

Prerequisites

• Java 21+
• API Key from OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google
• Maven 3.9+ (optional)

Set your API keys:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_key"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your_anthropic_key"
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="your_google_api_key"

Note

For Google GenAI, you can use either

GOOGLE_API_KEY

(Google AI Studio) or Vertex AI authentication with

GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID

and

GOOGLE_LOCATION

.

Using the Shell

Spring Shell is an easy way to interact with the Embabel agent framework, especially during development.

Type help to see available commands, or use execute / x to run an agent:

execute "Lynda is a Scorpio, find news for her" -p -r

The -p and -r flags log prompts and LLM responses respectively; omit them for quiet output. Use chat for an interactive conversation, and choose-goal to inspect how Embabel ranks goals without running anything.

For a full description of every command, flags, tab completion, and history shortcuts, see Embabel Shell.

Example Commands

Try these commands in the shell:

# Simple horoscope agent
execute "My name is Sarah and I'm a Leo"

# Research with web tools (requires Docker Desktop with MCP extension)
execute "research the recent australian federal election. what is the position of the Greens party?"

# Fact checking
x "fact check the following: holden cars are still made in australia"

Implementing Your Own Shell Commands

You can add custom shell commands to invoke specific agents directly during development. See Implementing Custom Shell Commands for a full example and explanation.