Portkey Integration

Introduction

Portkey enhances CrewAI with production-readiness features, turning your experimental agent crews into robust systems by providing:

Complete observability of every agent step, tool use, and interaction
Built-in reliability with fallbacks, retries, and load balancing
Cost tracking and optimization to manage your AI spend
Access to 200+ LLMs through a single integration
Guardrails to keep agent behavior safe and compliant
Version-controlled prompts for consistent agent performance

Installation & Setup

Install the required packages

pip install -U crewai portkey-ai

Generate API Key

Create a Portkey API key with optional budget/rate limits from the Portkey dashboard. You can also attach configurations for reliability, caching, and more to this key. More on this later.

Configure CrewAI with Portkey

The integration is simple - you just need to update the LLM configuration in your CrewAI setup:

from crewai import LLM
from portkey_ai import createHeaders, PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL

# Create an LLM instance with Portkey integration
gpt_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",  # We are using a Virtual key, so this is a placeholder
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        virtual_key="YOUR_LLM_VIRTUAL_KEY",
        trace_id="unique-trace-id",               # Optional, for request tracing
    )
)

#Use them in your Crew Agents like this:

	@agent
	def lead_market_analyst(self) -> Agent:
		return Agent(
			config=self.agents_config['lead_market_analyst'],
			verbose=True,
			memory=False,
			llm=gpt_llm
		)

What are Virtual Keys? Virtual keys in Portkey securely store your LLM provider API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) in an encrypted vault. They allow for easier key rotation and budget management. Learn more about virtual keys here.

Production Features

1. Enhanced Observability

Portkey provides comprehensive observability for your CrewAI agents, helping you understand exactly what’s happening during each execution.

Traces provide a hierarchical view of your crew’s execution, showing the sequence of LLM calls, tool invocations, and state transitions.

# Add trace_id to enable hierarchical tracing in Portkey
portkey_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        virtual_key="YOUR_OPENAI_VIRTUAL_KEY",
        trace_id="unique-session-id"  # Add unique trace ID
    )
)

2. Reliability - Keep Your Crews Running Smoothly

When running crews in production, things can go wrong - API rate limits, network issues, or provider outages. Portkey’s reliability features ensure your agents keep running smoothly even when problems occur. It’s simple to enable fallback in your CrewAI setup by using a Portkey Config:

from crewai import LLM
from portkey_ai import createHeaders, PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL

# Create LLM with fallback configuration
portkey_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    max_tokens=1000,
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        config={
            "strategy": {
                "mode": "fallback"
            },
            "targets": [
                {
                    "provider": "openai",
                    "api_key": "YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY",
                    "override_params": {"model": "gpt-4o"}
                },
                {
                    "provider": "anthropic",
                    "api_key": "YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY",
                    "override_params": {"model": "claude-3-opus-20240229"}
                }
            ]
        }
    )
)

# Use this LLM configuration with your agents

This configuration will automatically try Claude if the GPT-4o request fails, ensuring your crew can continue operating.

Automatic Retries

Handles temporary failures automatically. If an LLM call fails, Portkey will retry the same request for the specified number of times - perfect for rate limits or network blips.

Request Timeouts

Prevent your agents from hanging. Set timeouts to ensure you get responses (or can fail gracefully) within your required timeframes.

Conditional Routing

Send different requests to different providers. Route complex reasoning to GPT-4, creative tasks to Claude, and quick responses to Gemini based on your needs.

Fallbacks

Keep running even if your primary provider fails. Automatically switch to backup providers to maintain availability.

Load Balancing

Spread requests across multiple API keys or providers. Great for high-volume crew operations and staying within rate limits.

3. Prompting in CrewAI

Portkey’s Prompt Engineering Studio helps you create, manage, and optimize the prompts used in your CrewAI agents. Instead of hardcoding prompts or instructions, use Portkey’s prompt rendering API to dynamically fetch and apply your versioned prompts.

Manage prompts in Portkey's Prompt Library

Prompt Playground is a place to compare, test and deploy perfect prompts for your AI application. It’s where you experiment with different models, test variables, compare outputs, and refine your prompt engineering strategy before deploying to production. It allows you to:

Iteratively develop prompts before using them in your agents
Test prompts with different variables and models
Compare outputs between different prompt versions
Collaborate with team members on prompt development

This visual environment makes it easier to craft effective prompts for each step in your CrewAI agents’ workflow.

Prompt Engineering Studio

Learn more about Portkey’s prompt management features

4. Guardrails for Safe Crews

Guardrails ensure your CrewAI agents operate safely and respond appropriately in all situations. Why Use Guardrails? CrewAI agents can experience various failure modes:

Generating harmful or inappropriate content
Leaking sensitive information like PII
Hallucinating incorrect information
Generating outputs in incorrect formats

Portkey’s guardrails add protections for both inputs and outputs. Implementing Guardrails

from crewai import Agent, LLM
from portkey_ai import createHeaders, PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL

# Create LLM with guardrails
portkey_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        virtual_key="YOUR_OPENAI_VIRTUAL_KEY",
        config={
            "input_guardrails": ["guardrails-id-xxx", "guardrails-id-yyy"],
            "output_guardrails": ["guardrails-id-zzz"]
        }
    )
)

# Create agent with guardrailed LLM
researcher = Agent(
    role="Senior Research Scientist",
    goal="Discover groundbreaking insights about the assigned topic",
    backstory="You are an expert researcher with deep domain knowledge.",
    verbose=True,
    llm=portkey_llm
)

Portkey’s guardrails can:

Detect and redact PII in both inputs and outputs
Filter harmful or inappropriate content
Validate response formats against schemas
Check for hallucinations against ground truth
Apply custom business logic and rules

Learn More About Guardrails

Explore Portkey’s guardrail features to enhance agent safety

5. User Tracking with Metadata

Track individual users through your CrewAI agents using Portkey’s metadata system. What is Metadata in Portkey? Metadata allows you to associate custom data with each request, enabling filtering, segmentation, and analytics. The special _user field is specifically designed for user tracking.

from crewai import Agent, LLM
from portkey_ai import createHeaders, PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL

# Configure LLM with user tracking
portkey_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        virtual_key="YOUR_OPENAI_VIRTUAL_KEY",
        metadata={
            "_user": "user_123",  # Special _user field for user analytics
            "user_tier": "premium",
            "user_company": "Acme Corp",
            "session_id": "abc-123"
        }
    )
)

# Create agent with tracked LLM
researcher = Agent(
    role="Senior Research Scientist",
    goal="Discover groundbreaking insights about the assigned topic",
    backstory="You are an expert researcher with deep domain knowledge.",
    verbose=True,
    llm=portkey_llm
)

Filter Analytics by User With metadata in place, you can filter analytics by user and analyze performance metrics on a per-user basis:

Filter analytics by user

This enables:

Per-user cost tracking and budgeting
Personalized user analytics
Team or organization-level metrics
Environment-specific monitoring (staging vs. production)

Learn More About Metadata

Explore how to use custom metadata to enhance your analytics

6. Caching for Efficient Crews

Implement caching to make your CrewAI agents more efficient and cost-effective:

from crewai import Agent, LLM
from portkey_ai import createHeaders, PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL

# Configure LLM with simple caching
portkey_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        virtual_key="YOUR_OPENAI_VIRTUAL_KEY",
        config={
            "cache": {
                "mode": "simple"
            }
        }
    )
)

# Create agent with cached LLM
researcher = Agent(
    role="Senior Research Scientist",
    goal="Discover groundbreaking insights about the assigned topic",
    backstory="You are an expert researcher with deep domain knowledge.",
    verbose=True,
    llm=portkey_llm
)

Simple caching performs exact matches on input prompts, caching identical requests to avoid redundant model executions.

7. Model Interoperability

CrewAI supports multiple LLM providers, and Portkey extends this capability by providing access to over 200 LLMs through a unified interface. You can easily switch between different models without changing your core agent logic:

from crewai import Agent, LLM
from portkey_ai import createHeaders, PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL

# Set up LLMs with different providers
openai_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        virtual_key="YOUR_OPENAI_VIRTUAL_KEY"
    )
)

anthropic_llm = LLM(
    model="claude-3-5-sonnet-latest",
    max_tokens=1000,
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="dummy",
    extra_headers=createHeaders(
        api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY",
        virtual_key="YOUR_ANTHROPIC_VIRTUAL_KEY"
    )
)

# Choose which LLM to use for each agent based on your needs
researcher = Agent(
    role="Senior Research Scientist",
    goal="Discover groundbreaking insights about the assigned topic",
    backstory="You are an expert researcher with deep domain knowledge.",
    verbose=True,
    llm=openai_llm  # Use anthropic_llm for Anthropic
)

Portkey provides access to LLMs from providers including:

OpenAI (GPT-4o, GPT-4 Turbo, etc.)
Anthropic (Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, etc.)
Mistral AI (Mistral Large, Mistral Medium, etc.)
Google Vertex AI (Gemini 1.5 Pro, etc.)
Cohere (Command, Command-R, etc.)
AWS Bedrock (Claude, Titan, etc.)
Local/Private Models

Supported Providers

See the full list of LLM providers supported by Portkey

Set Up Enterprise Governance for CrewAI

Why Enterprise Governance? If you are using CrewAI inside your organization, you need to consider several governance aspects:

Cost Management: Controlling and tracking AI spending across teams
Access Control: Managing which teams can use specific models
Usage Analytics: Understanding how AI is being used across the organization
Security & Compliance: Maintaining enterprise security standards
Reliability: Ensuring consistent service across all users

Portkey adds a comprehensive governance layer to address these enterprise needs. Let’s implement these controls step by step.

Create Virtual Key

Virtual Keys are Portkey’s secure way to manage your LLM provider API keys. They provide essential controls like:

Budget limits for API usage
Rate limiting capabilities
Secure API key storage

To create a virtual key: Go to Virtual Keys in the Portkey App. Save and copy the virtual key ID

Save your virtual key ID - you’ll need it for the next step.

Create Default Config

Configs in Portkey define how your requests are routed, with features like advanced routing, fallbacks, and retries.To create your config:

Go to Configs in Portkey dashboard

Create new config with:

{
    "virtual_key": "YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY_FROM_STEP1",
   	"override_params": {
      "model": "gpt-4o" // Your preferred model name
    }
}

Save and note the Config name for the next step

Configure Portkey API Key

Now create a Portkey API key and attach the config you created in Step 2:

Go to API Keys in Portkey and Create new API key
Select your config from Step 2
Generate and save your API key

Connect to CrewAI

After setting up your Portkey API key with the attached config, connect it to your CrewAI agents:

from crewai import Agent, LLM
from portkey_ai import PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL

# Configure LLM with your API key
portkey_llm = LLM(
    model="gpt-4o",
    base_url=PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL,
    api_key="YOUR_PORTKEY_API_KEY"
)

# Create agent with Portkey-enabled LLM
researcher = Agent(
    role="Senior Research Scientist",
    goal="Discover groundbreaking insights about the assigned topic",
    backstory="You are an expert researcher with deep domain knowledge.",
    verbose=True,
    llm=portkey_llm
)

Step 1: Implement Budget Controls & Rate Limits

Step 2: Define Model Access Rules

As your AI usage scales, controlling which teams can access specific models becomes crucial. Portkey Configs provide this control layer with features like:

Access Control Features:

Model Restrictions: Limit access to specific models
Data Protection: Implement guardrails for sensitive data
Reliability Controls: Add fallbacks and retry logic

Example Configuration:

Here’s a basic configuration to route requests to OpenAI, specifically using GPT-4o:

{
	"strategy": {
		"mode": "single"
	},
	"targets": [
		{
			"virtual_key": "YOUR_OPENAI_VIRTUAL_KEY",
			"override_params": {
				"model": "gpt-4o"
			}
		}
	]
}

Create your config on the Configs page in your Portkey dashboard.

Configs can be updated anytime to adjust controls without affecting running applications.

Step 3: Implement Access Controls

Create User-specific API keys that automatically:

Track usage per user/team with the help of virtual keys
Apply appropriate configs to route requests
Collect relevant metadata to filter logs
Enforce access permissions

Create API keys through:

Example using Python SDK:

from portkey_ai import Portkey

portkey = Portkey(api_key="YOUR_ADMIN_API_KEY")

api_key = portkey.api_keys.create(
    name="engineering-team",
    type="organisation",
    workspace_id="YOUR_WORKSPACE_ID",
    defaults={
        "config_id": "your-config-id",
        "metadata": {
            "environment": "production",
            "department": "engineering"
        }
    },
    scopes=["logs.view", "configs.read"]
)

For detailed key management instructions, see our API Keys documentation.

Step 4: Deploy & Monitor

Enterprise Features Now Available

Your CrewAI integration now has:

Departmental budget controls
Model access governance
Usage tracking & attribution
Security guardrails
Reliability features

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Portkey enhance CrewAI?

Can I use Portkey with existing CrewAI applications?

Does Portkey work with all CrewAI features?

Can I track usage across multiple agents in a crew?

How do I filter logs and traces for specific crew runs?

Can I use my own API keys with Portkey?

Resources

CrewAI Docs

Official CrewAI documentation

Book a Demo

Get personalized guidance on implementing this integration

Get Started

Guides

Core Concepts

MCP Integration

Tools

Observability

Learn

Telemetry

​Introduction

​Installation & Setup

​Production Features

​1. Enhanced Observability

​2. Reliability - Keep Your Crews Running Smoothly

Automatic Retries

Request Timeouts

Conditional Routing

Fallbacks

Load Balancing

​3. Prompting in CrewAI

Prompt Engineering Studio

​4. Guardrails for Safe Crews

Learn More About Guardrails

​5. User Tracking with Metadata

Learn More About Metadata

​6. Caching for Efficient Crews

​7. Model Interoperability

Supported Providers

​Set Up Enterprise Governance for CrewAI

​Enterprise Features Now Available

​Frequently Asked Questions

​Resources

CrewAI Docs

Book a Demo

Introduction

Installation & Setup

Production Features

1. Enhanced Observability

2. Reliability - Keep Your Crews Running Smoothly

3. Prompting in CrewAI

4. Guardrails for Safe Crews

5. User Tracking with Metadata

6. Caching for Efficient Crews

7. Model Interoperability

Set Up Enterprise Governance for CrewAI

Enterprise Features Now Available

Frequently Asked Questions

Resources