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Building a Social AI Agent in 15 Minutes

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to quickly build your own social media AI agent that can autonomously post tweets, respond to interactions, and maintain its own unique personality. We'll be using the Eliza framework by a16z and TypeScript.

Video: https://youtu.be/6PZVwNTl5hI?si=0zB3OvYU4KiRQTxI

Prerequisites​

  • Basic TypeScript knowledge
  • Twitter Developer account
  • (Optional) Anthropic API key

Project Setup​

  1. Clone the Eliza repo and check out the latest version:

    git clone https://github.com/elizaOS/eliza.git
    cd eliza
    git checkout <latest-tag>

  2. Install dependencies:

    pnpm install
    pnpm build

Environment Variables​

  1. Copy .env.example to .env:

    cp .env.example .env

  2. Open .env and set your Twitter credentials. You can use username/password or cookies.

  3. (Optional) Set your Anthropic API key for the Claude model.

  4. For Gaia, set:

    MODEL_LLM_API_URL=https://modelserverurl/
    MODEL_EMBEDDING_MODEL=embeddingmodel
    MODEL_EMBEDDING_ENABLED=true

Customizing Your Character​

  1. Create agent/mainCharacter.ts:

    import { DefaultCharacter } from "./defaultCharacter";
    import { clients } from "../globalClients";

    export const mainCharacter = {
       ...DefaultCharacter,
       clients: { twitter: clients.twitter },
       modelProvider: modelProviders.anthropic 
    };

  2. Extend the character by overriding properties like name, bio, systemPrompt etc.

  3. In src/index.ts, import mainCharacter and replace instances of DefaultCharacter with it.

Running the Agent​

  1. Run pnpm start

  2. The agent will post a tweet and start listening for replies. Test it out by replying to the tweet.

Gaia Model Setup​

  1. In mainCharacter.ts, change the model provider:

       modelProvider: modelProviders.gaiaNet

  2. Customize the systemPrompt and bio for the new personality.

  3. Delete the SQLite DB at data/sqlite.db to reset tweet history.

  4. Run pnpm start again to see the updated agent in action!

Next Steps​

  • Try integrating other extensions like databases, Discord, Telegram
  • Add on-chain capabilities with EVM, Solana, StarkNet adapters
  • Chat with your agent directly in the terminal

Resources​