Build Your First Agent

Step-by-step guide to building an AI agent with Enclave

This guide walks you through building a complete AI agent that can execute LLM-generated code safely. By the end, you’ll have a working agent that can process natural language requests and execute tool-based workflows.

What You’ll Build

An AI agent that:

• Accepts natural language requests
• Generates JavaScript orchestration code via LLM
• Executes the code safely in Enclave
• Returns structured results

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• An OpenAI API key (or other LLM provider)
• Basic TypeScript knowledge

Step 1: Project Setup

mkdir my-agent && cd my-agent
npm init -y
npm install @enclave-vm/core openai typescript @types/node
npx tsc --init

Step 2: Define Your Tools

Tools are the capabilities your agent exposes. Start with a simple set:

// src/tools.ts
export interface Tool {
  name: string;
  description: string;
  parameters: Record<string, { type: string; description: string }>;
}

export const tools: Tool[] = [
  {
    name: 'users:list',
    description: 'Get a list of users',
    parameters: {
      limit: { type: 'number', description: 'Maximum users to return' },
    },
  },
  {
    name: 'users:get',
    description: 'Get a specific user by ID',
    parameters: {
      id: { type: 'string', description: 'User ID' },
    },
  },
  {
    name: 'email:send',
    description: 'Send an email to a user',
    parameters: {
      to: { type: 'string', description: 'Recipient email' },
      subject: { type: 'string', description: 'Email subject' },
      body: { type: 'string', description: 'Email body' },
    },
  },
];

// Tool implementations (mock for this example)
export async function executeTool(name: string, args: Record<string, unknown>) {
  switch (name) {
    case 'users:list':
      return [
        { id: '1', name: 'Alice', email: '[e-mail]' },
        { id: '2', name: 'Bob', email: '[e-mail]' },
      ].slice(0, (args.limit as number) || 10);

    case 'users:get':
      return { id: args.id, name: 'Alice', email: '[e-mail]' };

    case 'email:send':
      console.log(`[Mock] Sending email to ${args.to}`);
      return { sent: true, messageId: 'msg-123' };

    default:
      throw new Error(`Unknown tool: ${name}`);
  }
}

Step 3: Create the LLM Prompt

Build a prompt that instructs the LLM to generate AgentScript-compatible code:

// src/prompt.ts
import { tools, Tool } from './tools';

export function buildPrompt(userRequest: string): string {
  const toolDocs = tools
    .map(t => {
      const params = Object.entries(t.parameters)
        .map(([k, v]) => `${k}: ${v.type}`)
        .join(', ');
      return `- callTool('${t.name}', { ${params} }) - ${t.description}`;
    })
    .join('\n');

  return `You are an AI assistant that writes JavaScript code to fulfill user requests.

RULES:
- Use \`callTool(name, args)\` for all external operations
- Use only const/let for variables
- Use for/for-of loops (no while)
- Do not define functions
- Return the final result

AVAILABLE TOOLS:
${toolDocs}

USER REQUEST: ${userRequest}

Write JavaScript code to fulfill this request. Return ONLY the code, no explanations.`;
}

Step 4: Set Up the Enclave

Configure the secure execution environment:

// src/enclave.ts
import { Enclave } from '@enclave-vm/core';
import { executeTool } from './tools';

export function createEnclave() {
  return new Enclave({
    // Use STRICT for untrusted AI-generated code
    securityLevel: 'STRICT',

    // Tool handler bridges callTool() to your implementations
    toolHandler: async (name, args) => {
      console.log(`[Tool] ${name}`, args);
      return executeTool(name, args);
    },

    // Safety limits
    timeout: 30000,
    maxToolCalls: 50,
    maxIterations: 10000,
  });
}

Step 5: Build the Agent

Combine LLM code generation with Enclave execution:

// src/agent.ts
import OpenAI from 'openai';
import { buildPrompt } from './prompt';
import { createEnclave } from './enclave';

const openai = new OpenAI();

export async function runAgent(userRequest: string) {
  // Step 1: Generate code from LLM
  console.log('[Agent] Generating code for:', userRequest);

  const completion = await openai.chat.completions.create({
    model: 'gpt-4',
    messages: [
      { role: 'system', content: buildPrompt(userRequest) },
    ],
    temperature: 0,
  });

  const code = completion.choices[0].message.content || '';
  console.log('[Agent] Generated code:\n', code);

  // Step 2: Execute in Enclave
  const enclave = createEnclave();

  try {
    const result = await enclave.run(code);

    if (result.success) {
      console.log('[Agent] Result:', result.value);
      return {
        success: true,
        result: result.value,
        stats: result.stats,
      };
    } else {
      console.error('[Agent] Execution failed:', result.error);
      return {
        success: false,
        error: result.error,
      };
    }
  } finally {
    enclave.dispose();
  }
}

Step 6: Test Your Agent

// src/index.ts
import { runAgent } from './agent';

async function main() {
  // Test request
  const result = await runAgent(
    'List all users and send each one a welcome email'
  );

  console.log('Final result:', JSON.stringify(result, null, 2));
}

main().catch(console.error);

Run it:

npx ts-node src/index.ts

Expected output:

[Agent] Generating code for: List all users and send each one a welcome email
[Agent] Generated code:
 const users = await callTool('users:list', {});
 const results = [];
 for (const user of users) {
   const sent = await callTool('email:send', {
     to: user.email,
     subject: 'Welcome!',
     body: `Hello ${user.name}, welcome to our platform!`
   });
   results.push({ user: user.name, sent: sent.sent });
 }
 return results;
[Tool] users:list {}
[Tool] email:send { to: '[e-mail]', ... }
[Tool] email:send { to: '[e-mail]', ... }
[Agent] Result: [{ user: 'Alice', sent: true }, { user: 'Bob', sent: true }]

Step 7: Add Error Handling

Make your agent more robust:

// src/agent.ts (updated)
export async function runAgent(userRequest: string) {
  const enclave = createEnclave();

  try {
    // Generate code
    const code = await generateCode(userRequest);

    // Validate before execution (optional but recommended)
    const validation = await enclave.validate(code);
    if (!validation.valid) {
      return {
        success: false,
        error: 'Generated code failed validation',
        issues: validation.issues,
      };
    }

    // Execute
    const result = await enclave.run(code);

    if (!result.success) {
      // Retry with error context
      const retryCode = await generateCode(
        `${userRequest}\n\nPrevious attempt failed: ${result.error?.message}`
      );
      return enclave.run(retryCode);
    }

    return result;
  } finally {
    enclave.dispose();
  }
}

Step 8: Add Streaming (Optional)

For real-time output, use EnclaveJS:

import { EnclaveClient } from '@enclave-vm/client';

const client = new EnclaveClient({
  serverUrl: 'http://localhost:3001',
});

const stream = client.execute(code);

for await (const event of stream) {
  switch (event.type) {
    case 'stdout':
      console.log('[Output]', event.payload.data);
      break;
    case 'tool_call':
      console.log('[Tool]', event.payload.tool);
      break;
    case 'final':
      console.log('[Result]', event.payload.result);
      break;
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Validate tools - Check tool arguments before execution
2. Log everything - Tool calls, durations, results for debugging
3. Set limits - Always configure timeout, maxToolCalls, maxIterations
4. Handle retries - LLM-generated code may need refinement
5. Sandbox per request - Create a new Enclave for each execution

Next Steps

• Tool Integration - Connect real APIs
• Production Deployment - Deploy to production
• Security Hardening - Secure your agent

Related

• Quickstart - Basic setup
• Tool System - Deep dive on tools
• AgentScript - Language specification