Installation

Requires Python 3.12+.

VS Code First

If you want a guided, editor-first path for creating a virtual environment, installing the published package, and running a first script, start with Run An Example In VS Code.

Package Install

Install the published package with a Python 3.12+ interpreter:

python -m pip install design-research-agents

Windows note: If python or pip resolve to an older interpreter, use py -3.12 -m pip install design-research-agents and py -3.12 -m venv .venv for virtual-environment setup.

Editable Install

git clone https://github.com/cmudrc/design-research-agents.git
cd design-research-agents
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"

Maintainer Shortcut

make dev

Backend Extras

Backend clients are intentionally optional. Install only what your study needs. For example:

python -m pip install "design-research-agents[openai]"
python -m pip install "design-research-agents[anthropic]"
python -m pip install "design-research-agents[local]"
python -m pip install "design-research-agents[full]"
python -m pip install "design-research-agents[all]"

full covers hosted + local backends. all adds the optional ChromaDB and graph-memory extras on top of that backend bundle.

When working from a source checkout, replace design-research-agents with . and add -e to install the same extras in editable mode. Add dev only when you also need contributor tooling.

Use Dependencies and Extras for the complete matrix and platform caveats.