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Phase 1: Environment Setup

⏱️ Time to complete: 10 minutes

Let's set up your development environment for building AI agents with Microsoft Agent Framework.

🎯 Learning Objectives

By the end of this phase, you will:

  • Create a Python virtual environment
  • Install required packages
  • Set up your project structure

📋 Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

  • Python 3.10 or higher installed
  • A code editor (VS Code recommended)
  • Terminal/command line access
  • A GitHub account

🐍 Step 1: Verify Python Installation

Open your terminal and check your Python version:

python --version

You should see Python 3.10 or higher. If not, download Python.

📁 Step 2: Create Project Directory

Create a new folder for the workshop:

mkdir agent-framework-workshop
cd agent-framework-workshop

🔒 Step 3: Create Virtual Environment

Create an isolated Python environment:

python -m venv .venv

Activate it:

OS Command
macOS/Linux source .venv/bin/activate
Windows (CMD) .venv\Scripts\activate.bat
Windows (PowerShell) .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

You'll know it's active when you see (.venv) at the start of your terminal prompt.

💡 Tip: To exit the virtual environment later, simply run deactivate.

📦 Step 4: Create Requirements File

Create a file called requirements.txt with our core dependencies:

touch requirements.txt

Add the following content:

# Microsoft Agent Framework (preview)
agent-framework==1.0.0b260107

# Web UI
chainlit>=2.9.4

# Environment variables
python-dotenv>=1.2.1

# HTTP client for tools
httpx>=0.28.0

# OpenAI async client (for GitHub Models)
openai>=2.14.0

📥 Step 5: Install Dependencies

Install the packages:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Or using uv (faster):

uv pip install -r requirements.txt

This installs:

  • agent-framework - Microsoft's AI agent framework
  • chainlit - Chat UI framework
  • python-dotenv - Environment variable management
  • httpx - HTTP client for API calls
  • openai - OpenAI client (used with GitHub Models)

🔑 Step 6: Create Environment File

Create a .env file for secrets:

touch .env

Add this template (we'll fill it in next phase):

# GitHub Models API Token
GITHUB_TOKEN=your_token_here

# WeatherAPI Key (for Phase 5)
WEATHER_API_KEY=your_key_here

⚠️ Important: Never commit .env to git! Add it to .gitignore.

📂 Project Structure

Your folder should look like this:

agent-framework-workshop/
├── .venv/              # Virtual environment
├── .env                # Environment variables (secrets)
└── requirements.txt    # Dependencies

✅ Checkpoint

Check Status
Python 3.10+ installed ☐
Virtual environment created and activated ☐
Dependencies installed ☐
.env file created ☐

🎉 Environment Ready?

You're all set up! Let's connect to AI models.

👉 Next: Phase 2: GitHub Models

❓ Common Issues

"Python not found"

Make sure Python is in your PATH. Try python3 --version on macOS/Linux.

"pip not found"

Use python -m pip install -r requirements.txt instead.

Virtual environment not activating

On Windows PowerShell, you may need to run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser