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QuickStart: Your First Agent in 5 Minutes! 🚀

Get your AI agent running on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore in 3 simple steps.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

  • AWS Account with credentials configured (aws configure)
  • Python 3.10+ installed
  • AWS Permissions:
  • BedrockAgentCoreFullAccess managed policy
  • AmazonBedrockFullAccess managed policy
  • Caller permissions: See detailed policy here
  • Model Access: Anthropic Claude 4.0 enabled in Amazon Bedrock console

Step 1: Install and Create Your Agent

# Install both packages
pip install bedrock-agentcore strands-agents bedrock-agentcore-starter-toolkit

Create my_agent.py:

from bedrock_agentcore import BedrockAgentCoreApp
from strands import Agent

app = BedrockAgentCoreApp()
agent = Agent()

@app.entrypoint
def invoke(payload):
    """Your AI agent function"""
    user_message = payload.get("prompt", "Hello! How can I help you today?")
    result = agent(user_message)
    return {"result": result.message}

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run()

Create requirements.txt: 

bedrock-agentcore
strands-agents

Run 

cat > requirements.txt << EOF
bedrock-agentcore
strands-agents
EOF

Step 2: Test Locally

# Start your agent
python my_agent.py

# Test it (in another terminal)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/invocations \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"prompt": "Hello!"}'

✅ Success: You should see a response like {"result": "Hello! I'm here to help..."}

Step 3: Deploy to AWS

# Configure and deploy (auto-creates all required resources)
agentcore configure -e my_agent.py
agentcore launch

# Test your deployed agent
agentcore invoke '{"prompt": "tell me a joke"}'

🎉 Congratulations! Your agent is now running on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore!

💡 Tip: The toolkit auto-creates IAM roles and ECR repositories - no manual setup needed!

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Port 8080 already in use" 

# Find and stop the process using port 8080
lsof -ti:8080 | xargs kill -9

"Permission denied" errors - Verify AWS credentials: aws sts get-caller-identity - Check you have the required managed policies attached - Review caller permissions policy for detailed requirements

"Docker not found" warnings - ✅ Ignore this! Default deployment uses CodeBuild (no Docker needed) - Only install Docker/Finch/Podman if you want to use --local or --local-build flags

"Model access denied" - Enable Anthropic Claude 4.0 in the Bedrock console - Make sure you're in the correct AWS region (us-west-2 by default)

"CodeBuild build error" - Check CodeBuild project logs in AWS console - Verify your caller permissions include CodeBuild access

Getting Help

Advanced Options (Optional)

🔧 Click to expand advanced configuration options ### Deployment Modes Choose the right deployment approach for your needs: **🚀 Default: CodeBuild + Cloud Runtime (RECOMMENDED)** 
agentcore launch  # Uses CodeBuild (no Docker needed)
Perfect for production, managed environments, teams without Docker **💻 Local Development** 
agentcore launch --local  # Build and run locally (requires Docker/Finch/Podman)
Perfect for development, rapid iteration, debugging **🔧 Hybrid: Local Build + Cloud Runtime** 
agentcore launch --local-build  # Build locally, deploy to cloud (requires Docker/Finch/Podman)
Perfect for teams with Docker expertise needing build customization ### Custom Roles 
# Use existing IAM role
agentcore configure -e my_agent.py --execution-role arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/MyRole

Next Steps

Ready to build something more advanced?