Quickstart

Build your first agent in 10 minutes. This walkthrough installs the SDK, sets up a provider key, and runs a tiny agent locally.

Step 1: Install the SDK

pip install dreadnode

Step 2: Set a provider API key

Dreadnode uses provider environment variables (for example, Anthropic) or explicit configuration. Export the key in your shell:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

Then configure the SDK with your Dreadnode project in your script using dn.configure(...).

Step 3: Create your first agent

Create a file called quickstart.py:

import asyncio
import dreadnode as dn

dn.configure(api_key="dn_...", project="my-project")


@dn.tool()
async def summarize(text: str) -> str:
    """Summarize a block of text."""
    return text


async def main() -> None:
    agent = dn.Agent(
        name="quickstart-agent",
        model="anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
        instructions="You are a helpful assistant.",
        tools=[summarize],
    )

    trajectory = await agent.run(
        "Say hello and summarize what Dreadnode does in one sentence."
    )

    last_message = trajectory.messages[-1] if trajectory.messages else None
    if last_message:
        print(last_message.content)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Step 4: Run it

python quickstart.py

Step 5: View the output

You should see a short response printed to the terminal.

What’s next

Explore the CLI reference: /cli
Dive into the SDK reference: /sdk
Learn core concepts: /concepts