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Prerequisites

Before using the PolyAI ADK, you need a couple of local tools. If you run into any issues, contact developers@poly-ai.com.

Local requirements

Tool Version Notes
uv latest Manages Python and virtual environments
Git any Optional — recommended for version control of your local project files

Install uv

uv manages Python versions for you, including the version required by the ADK. Install it with:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Alternatively, with Homebrew on macOS:

brew install uv

See the uv installation guide for more options.

API key

The ADK needs an API key to communicate with Agent Studio. How you obtain it depends on your account type:

  • Self-serve accounts (studio.poly.ai) — poly start signs you in and saves the key automatically.
  • Enterprise accounts (regional clusters such as us-1, euw-1, uk-1) — poly login --region <region> signs you in through the browser and saves the key. Alternatively, create the key in the Agent Studio UI and export it manually. poly start is self-serve only.

See Getting started for the full walkthrough.

API keys are workspace-scoped

An API key grants access to one specific Agent Studio workspace. When you run poly init, it lists all projects visible to that key. If you see projects that don't look like yours, you may be using a key scoped to the wrong workspace. Contact your PolyAI contact to confirm.

Checklist

Before continuing, confirm:

  • uv is installed
  • You have an API key — saved by poly start (self-serve), saved by poly login (enterprise), or exported manually as POLY_ADK_KEY

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