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SAMPLE_GUIDELINES.md

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Sample Guidelines

Samples are extremely important for developers to get started with Agent Framework. We strive to provide a wide range of samples that demonstrate the capabilities of Agent Framework with consistency and quality. This document outlines the guidelines for creating samples.

File Structure

Every sample file should follow this order:

  1. PEP 723 inline script metadata (if external dependencies are needed)
  2. Copyright header: # Copyright (c) Microsoft. All rights reserved.
  3. Required imports (including from dotenv import load_dotenv)
  4. Environment variable loading: load_dotenv()
  5. Module docstring: """This sample demonstrates..."""
  6. Helper functions
  7. Main function(s) demonstrating functionality
  8. Entry point: if __name__ == "__main__": asyncio.run(main())

When modifying samples, update associated README files in the same or parent folders.

External Dependencies

When samples depend on external packages not included in the dev environment (e.g., semantic-kernel, autogen-agentchat, pandas), declare them using PEP 723 inline script metadata at the top of the file, before the copyright header:

# /// script
# requires-python = ">=3.10"
# dependencies = [
#     "some-external-package",
# ]
# ///
# Run with any PEP 723 compatible runner, e.g.:
#   uv run samples/path/to/script.py

# Copyright (c) Microsoft. All rights reserved.

This makes samples self-contained and runnable without installing extra packages into the dev environment. Do not add sample-only dependencies to the root pyproject.toml dev group.

Environment Variables

All samples that use environment variables (API keys, endpoints, etc.) must call load_dotenv() at the beginning of the file to load variables from a .env file. The python-dotenv package is already included as a dependency of agent-framework-core.

# Copyright (c) Microsoft. All rights reserved.

import asyncio
import os

from agent_framework.azure import AzureOpenAIResponsesClient
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Load environment variables from .env file
load_dotenv()

"""
Sample docstring explaining what the sample does.
"""

Users can create a .env file in the python/ directory based on .env.example to set their environment variables without having to export them in their shell.

Syntax Checking

Run uv run poe samples-syntax to check samples for syntax errors and missing imports from agent_framework. This uses a relaxed pyright configuration that validates imports without strict type checking.

Some samples depend on external packages (e.g., azure.ai.agentserver.agentframework, microsoft_agents) that are not installed in the dev environment. These are excluded in pyrightconfig.samples.json. When adding or modifying these excluded samples, add them to the exclude list and manually verify they have no import errors from agent_framework packages by temporarily removing them from the exclude list and running the check.

General Guidelines

  • Clear and Concise: Samples should be clear and concise. They should demonstrate a specific set of features or capabilities of Agent Framework. The less concepts a sample demonstrates, the better.
  • Consistent Structure: All samples should have a consistent structure. This includes the folder structure, file naming, and the content of the sample.
  • Incremental Complexity: Samples should start simple and gradually increase in complexity. This helps developers understand the concepts and features of Agent Framework.
  • Documentation: Samples should be over-documented.

Clear and Concise

Try not to include too many concepts in a single sample. The goal is to demonstrate a specific feature or capability of Agent Framework. If you find yourself including too many concepts, consider breaking the sample into multiple samples. A good example of this is to break non-streaming and streaming modes into separate samples.

Consistent Structure

! TODO: Update folder structure to our new needs. ! TODO: Decide on single samples folder or also samples in extensions

Getting Started Samples

The getting started samples are the simplest samples that require minimal setup. These samples should be named in the following format: step<number>_<name>.py. One exception to this rule is when the sample is a notebook, in which case the sample should be named in the following format: <number>_<name>.ipynb.

Incremental Complexity

Try to do a best effort to make sure that the samples are incremental in complexity. For example, in the getting started samples, each step should build on the previous step, and the concept samples should build on the getting started samples, same with the demos.

Documentation

Try to over-document the samples. This includes comments in the code, README.md files, and any other documentation that is necessary to understand the sample. We use the guidance from PEP8 for comments in the code, with a deviation for the initial summary comment in samples and the output of the samples.

For the getting started samples and the concept samples, we should have the following:

  1. A README.md file is included in each set of samples that explains the purpose of the samples and the setup required to run them.

  2. A summary should be included underneath the imports that explains the purpose of the sample and required components/concepts to understand the sample. For example:

    """
This sample shows how to create a chatbot. This sample uses the following two main components:
- a ChatCompletionService: This component is responsible for generating responses to user messages.
- a ChatHistory: This component is responsible for keeping track of the chat history.
The chatbot in this sample is called Mosscap, who responds to user messages with long flowery prose.
"""

  3. Mark the code with comments to explain the purpose of each section of the code. For example:

    # 1. Create the instance of the Kernel to register the plugin and service.
...

# 2. Create the agent with the kernel instance.
...

    This will also allow the sample creator to track if the sample is getting too complex.

  4. At the end of the sample, include a section that explains the expected output of the sample. For example:

    """
Sample output:
User:> Why is the sky blue in one sentence?
Mosscap:> The sky is blue due to the scattering of sunlight by the molecules in the Earth's atmosphere,
a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering, which causes shorter blue wavelengths to become more
prominent in our visual perception.
"""

For the demos, a README.md file must be included that explains the purpose of the demo and how to run it. The README.md file should include the following:

  • A description of the demo.
  • A list of dependencies required to run the demo.
  • Instructions on how to run the demo.
  • Expected output of the demo.