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Using Knowledge in CrewAI

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What is Knowledge?

Knowledge in CrewAI is a powerful system that allows AI agents to access and utilize external information sources during their tasks. Think of it as giving your agents a reference library they can consult while working.

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Supported Knowledge Sources

CrewAI supports various types of knowledge sources out of the box:

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Quick Start

Here’s an example using string-based knowledge:

from crewai import Agent, Task, Crew, Process, LLM
from crewai.knowledge.source.string_knowledge_source import StringKnowledgeSource

# Create a knowledge source
content = "Users name is John. He is 30 years old and lives in San Francisco."
string_source = StringKnowledgeSource(
    content=content, 
)

# Create an LLM with a temperature of 0 to ensure deterministic outputs
llm = LLM(model="gpt-4o-mini", temperature=0)

# Create an agent with the knowledge store
agent = Agent(
    role="About User",
    goal="You know everything about the user.",
    backstory="""You are a master at understanding people and their preferences.""",
    verbose=True,
    allow_delegation=False,
    llm=llm,
)
task = Task(
    description="Answer the following questions about the user: {question}",
    expected_output="An answer to the question.",
    agent=agent,
)

crew = Crew(
    agents=[agent],
    tasks=[task],
    verbose=True,
    process=Process.sequential,
    knowledge_sources=[string_source], # Enable knowledge by adding the sources here. You can also add more sources to the sources list.
)

result = crew.kickoff(inputs={"question": "What city does John live in and how old is he?"})

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Knowledge Configuration

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Chunking Configuration

Control how content is split for processing by setting the chunk size and overlap.

knowledge_source = StringKnowledgeSource(
    content="Long content...",
    chunk_size=4000,     # Characters per chunk (default)
    chunk_overlap=200    # Overlap between chunks (default)
)

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Embedder Configuration

You can also configure the embedder for the knowledge store. This is useful if you want to use a different embedder for the knowledge store than the one used for the agents.

...
string_source = StringKnowledgeSource(
    content="Users name is John. He is 30 years old and lives in San Francisco.",
)
crew = Crew(
    ...
    knowledge_sources=[string_source],
    embedder={
        "provider": "openai",
        "config": {"model": "text-embedding-3-small"},
    },
)

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Clearing Knowledge

If you need to clear the knowledge stored in CrewAI, you can use the crewai reset-memories command with the --knowledge option.

crewai reset-memories --knowledge

This is useful when you’ve updated your knowledge sources and want to ensure that the agents are using the most recent information.

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Custom Knowledge Sources

CrewAI allows you to create custom knowledge sources for any type of data by extending the BaseKnowledgeSource class. Let’s create a practical example that fetches and processes space news articles.

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Space News Knowledge Source Example

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Key Components Explained

1. Custom Knowledge Source (SpaceNewsKnowledgeSource):

   • Extends BaseKnowledgeSource for integration with CrewAI
   • Configurable API endpoint and article limit
   • Implements three key methods:
     • load_content(): Fetches articles from the API
     • _format_articles(): Structures the articles into readable text
     • add(): Processes and stores the content

2. Agent Configuration:

   • Specialized role as a Space News Analyst
   • Uses the knowledge source to access space news

3. Task Setup:

   • Takes a user question as input through {user_question}
   • Designed to provide detailed answers based on the knowledge source

4. Crew Orchestration:

   • Manages the workflow between agent and task
   • Handles input/output through the kickoff method

This example demonstrates how to:

• Create a custom knowledge source that fetches real-time data
• Process and format external data for AI consumption
• Use the knowledge source to answer specific user questions
• Integrate everything seamlessly with CrewAI’s agent system

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About the Spaceflight News API

The example uses the Spaceflight News API, which:

• Provides free access to space-related news articles
• Requires no authentication
• Returns structured data about space news
• Supports pagination and filtering

You can customize the API query by modifying the endpoint URL:

# Fetch more articles
recent_news = SpaceNewsKnowledgeSource(
    api_endpoint="https://api.spaceflightnewsapi.net/v4/articles",
    limit=20,  # Increase the number of articles
)

# Add search parameters
recent_news = SpaceNewsKnowledgeSource(
    api_endpoint="https://api.spaceflightnewsapi.net/v4/articles?search=NASA", # Search for NASA news
    limit=10,
)

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Best Practices