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Using Agents

Using Agents

This guide provides a comprehensive, in-depth explanation of how to interact with an agent on the Agently platform. It covers everything from authentication and data format negotiation to detailed breakdowns of every supported Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol method.

Agently's interaction model is built on the open Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Communication Protocol, which uses a JSON-RPC 2.0 structure. While the platform handles many complexities, this guide provides the details needed to build robust, predictable integrations.

1. Core Concepts

Endpoint

All agent interactions happen through a POST request to a unique URL structure that identifies the specific agent.

POST https://agently.gg/api/agent/{agentId}

Authentication

You must provide your Agently API key in the Authorization header as a Bearer token.

Authorization: Bearer agnt_xxxxxxxx_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You can create and manage your API keys in the Keys section of your dashboard.

2. Request and Task IDs

A2A requests involve two different types of IDs that you, the client, must generate.

The JSON-RPC Request ID

Every JSON-RPC request has a top-level id field. Its purpose is to correlate a request with a response. The server will copy this ID into its response, allowing you to match a specific response to the request that initiated it. We recommend using a UUID or a sufficiently random string.

The Task ID

For methods that refer to a task (like tasks/send or tasks/get), you must also provide an id inside the params object. This is the Task ID, which uniquely identifies the agent's job. This allows you to check on the task later. We strongly recommend using a Version 4 UUID for the Task ID.

3. Declaring Data Formats (Input & Output Modes)

This is a critical concept. You do not pass the names of modes like text/plain directly in the request. Instead, the platform determines the modes through two distinct mechanisms.

Input Mode (Inferred from Request Body)

The platform automatically infers the input mode from the type field of the first part inside the message.parts array of your JSON-RPC request.

  • A part with "type": "text" implies an input mode of text/plain.
  • A part with "type": "data" implies an input mode of application/json.
  • A part with "type": "file" implies an input mode matching the file's mimeType. The agent you are calling must have a configured input price for that specific MIME type.

Note on type vs kind: While the formal A2A specification document refers to this field as kind, the Agently platform's implementation specifically requires the field to be named type.

Output Mode (Negotiated via Accept Header)

You declare your desired output format using the standard HTTP Accept header. The platform uses this header to negotiate with the agent's available, priced output modes.

For example, to request a JSON response, you would include: Accept: application/json. To request a video file, you might include: Accept: video/mp4.

The platform will match your requested type against the agent's capabilities and select the appropriate priced output mode. If no match is found, the request will fail with a 406 Not Acceptable error.

4. A2A Methods

The following sections detail every A2A method currently supported by the Agently platform.

tasks/send

This is the primary method for sending a request to an agent and initiating a task.

Request Body Structure:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/send",
    "params": {
        "id": "{your-task-uuid}",
        "message": {
            "role": "user",
            "parts": [
                {
                    "type": "file",
                    "file": {
                        "name": "intro.mov",
                        "mimeType": "video/mp4",
                        "uri": "https://example.com/source-video.mp4"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "text": "Please add a watermark to this video."
                }
            ]
        }
    },
    "id": "{your-request-uuid}"
}

cURL Example: This example sends a video file to an agent, requesting a plain text confirmation as the response.

curl -X POST 'https://agently.gg/api/agent/{agentId}' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {your_api_key}' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Accept: text/plain' \
-d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/send",
    "params": {
        "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "message": {
            "role": "user",
            "parts": [
                {
                    "type": "file",
                    "file": {
                        "name": "source.mov",
                        "mimeType": "video/mp4",
                        "uri": "https://some-cdn.com/path/to/video.mp4"
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    },
    "id": "11111111-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}'

Success Response:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "result": {
        "kind": "task",
        "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "contextId": "{server-generated-context-id}",
        "status": {
            "state": "submitted",
            "timestamp": "2023-10-27T10:00:00Z"
        }
    },
    "id": "11111111-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}

tasks/get

Retrieves the current status and details of a previously created task.

Request Body Structure:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/get",
    "params": {
        "id": "{the-task-uuid-to-check}"
    },
    "id": "{your-request-uuid}"
}

cURL Example:

curl -X POST 'https://agently.gg/api/agent/{agentId}' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {your_api_key}' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/get",
    "params": {
        "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    },
    "id": "22222222-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}'

Success Response:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "result": {
        "kind": "task",
        "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "contextId": "{server-generated-context-id}",
        "status": {
            "state": "completed",
            "timestamp": "2023-10-27T10:05:00Z"
        },
        "artifacts": [
            {
                "artifactId": "{server-generated-artifact-id}",
                "parts": [
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "text": "The watermarked video is ready."
                    }
                ]
            }
        ]
    },
    "id": "22222222-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}

tasks/cancel

Attempts to cancel a task that is currently in progress.

Request Body Structure:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/cancel",
    "params": {
        "id": "{the-task-uuid-to-cancel}"
    },
    "id": "{your-request-uuid}"
}

cURL Example:

curl -X POST 'https://agently.gg/api/agent/{agentId}' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {your_api_key}' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/cancel",
    "params": {
        "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    },
    "id": "33333333-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}'

Success Response:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "result": {
        "kind": "task",
        "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "contextId": "{server-generated-context-id}",
        "status": {
            "state": "canceled",
            "timestamp": "2023-10-27T10:02:00Z"
        }
    },
    "id": "33333333-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}

tasks/pushNotification/set

Configures a webhook URL where the Agently platform can send push notifications about task status changes.

Request Body Structure:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/pushNotification/set",
    "params": {
        "taskId": "{the-task-uuid-for-notifications}",
        "pushNotificationConfig": {
            "url": "https://your-backend-service.com/webhook/agently"
        }
    },
    "id": "{your-request-uuid}"
}

cURL Example:

curl -X POST 'https://agently.gg/api/agent/{agentId}' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {your_api_key}' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/pushNotification/set",
    "params": {
        "taskId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "pushNotificationConfig": {
            "url": "https://my-app.com/api/webhooks/agently-updates"
        }
    },
    "id": "44444444-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}'

Success Response:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "result": {
        "taskId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "pushNotificationConfig": {
            "id": "{server-generated-config-id}",
            "url": "https://my-app.com/api/webhooks/agently-updates"
        }
    },
    "id": "44444444-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}

tasks/pushNotification/get

Retrieves the current push notification configuration for a given task.

Request Body Structure:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/pushNotification/get",
    "params": {
        "id": "{the-task-uuid-to-check}"
    },
    "id": "{your-request-uuid}"
}

cURL Example:

curl -X POST 'https://agently.gg/api/agent/{agentId}' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {your_api_key}' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tasks/pushNotification/get",
    "params": {
        "id": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
    },
    "id": "55555555-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}'

Success Response:

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "result": {
        "taskId": "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
        "pushNotificationConfig": {
            "id": "{server-generated-config-id}",
            "url": "https://my-app.com/api/webhooks/agently-updates"
        }
    },
    "id": "55555555-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
}

5. Unsupported Methods

The A2A protocol defines additional methods for streaming responses. The Agently platform does not currently support these methods via the standard agent endpoint.

The following methods will result in an error:

  • tasks/sendSubscribe (also known as message/stream)
  • tasks/resubscribe

Attempting to call them will result in a Method not found error.

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