How to Build an AI Agent Using Spring Boot and Spring AI

Boost Your Skills: Build an AI Agent with Spring Boot!

Learn how to create a powerful AI Agent using Spring Boot and Spring AI. This guide provides a comprehensive overview, including setup, core functionalities, and practical implementation examples to elevate your skills.

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Introduction

In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the process of building an AI agent using Spring Boot and Spring AI. Spring AI simplifies the integration of Artificial Intelligence functionalities into Spring applications. This tutorial will cover everything from setting up your environment to implementing key features of your AI agent.

Prerequisites

• Java Development Kit (JDK) 17 or higher
• Maven or Gradle
• An IDE (e.g., IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse)
• Basic knowledge of Spring Boot

Setting Up Your Spring Boot Project

First, let’s create a new Spring Boot project. You can use Spring Initializr ( https://start.spring.io/) to generate a basic project structure. Add the following dependencies:

• Spring Web
• Spring AI
• Lombok (Optional, for reducing boilerplate code)

Here’s an example pom.xml:

 <dependencies>
  <dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.ai</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-ai-core</artifactId>
   <version>0.7.0</version> <!-- Use the latest version -->
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
   <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
   <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
   <optional>true</optional>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
   <scope>test</scope>
  </dependency>
 </dependencies>
 

Configuring Spring AI

To configure Spring AI, you need to set up an AI provider. For this example, let’s use OpenAI. You'll need an OpenAI API key, which you can obtain from the OpenAI website.

Add the following to your application.properties or application.yml:

 spring.ai.openai.api-key=YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY
 

Creating a Simple AI Agent

Now, let’s create a simple AI agent that can respond to basic queries. Create a new class called AIController:

 import org.springframework.ai.client.AiClient;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

 @RestController
 public class AIController {

  @Autowired
  private AiClient aiClient;

  @GetMapping("/ai/query")
  public String query(@RequestParam("prompt") String prompt) {
   return aiClient.generate(prompt);
  }
 }
 

This controller exposes an endpoint /ai/query that takes a prompt as a parameter and sends it to the AI model, returning the response.

Testing the AI Agent

Run your Spring Boot application and navigate to http://localhost:8080/ai/query?prompt=Tell me a joke in your browser. You should receive a joke generated by the AI.

Advanced Features

Spring AI allows for more advanced features such as:

• Prompt Engineering: Crafting specific prompts to get desired responses.
• Context Management: Maintaining context across multiple interactions.
• Vector Databases: Storing and retrieving information using vector embeddings.

Here’s an example of using a more complex prompt:

 import org.springframework.ai.prompt.PromptTemplate;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

 import java.util.Map;

 @RestController
 public class AIController {

  @Autowired
  private AiClient aiClient;

  @GetMapping("/ai/query")
  public String query(@RequestParam("topic") String topic) {
   String template = "Tell me a short story about {topic}.";
   PromptTemplate promptTemplate = new PromptTemplate(template);
   Map<String, Object> model = Map.of("topic", topic);
   return aiClient.generate(promptTemplate.render(model));
  }
 }
 

Access this via: http://localhost:8080/ai/query?topic=a%20brave%20knight

Conclusion

By following this guide, you’ve successfully built a basic AI agent using Spring Boot and Spring AI. Happy coding!

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