References Format

Control how knowledge base references are formatted for the agent.

references_format.py

"""
References Format
=============================

Control how knowledge base references are formatted for the agent.

By default, references are returned as JSON. Set references_format="yaml"
to return them as YAML instead.
"""

from agno.agent import Agent
from agno.knowledge.embedder.openai import OpenAIEmbedder
from agno.knowledge.knowledge import Knowledge
from agno.models.openai import OpenAIResponses
from agno.vectordb.pgvector import PgVector, SearchType

db_url = "postgresql+psycopg://ai:ai@localhost:5532/ai"
knowledge = Knowledge(
    vector_db=PgVector(
        table_name="recipes_yaml_demo",
        db_url=db_url,
        search_type=SearchType.hybrid,
        embedder=OpenAIEmbedder(id="text-embedding-3-small"),
    ),
)

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Create Agent
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
agent = Agent(
    model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5.2"),
    knowledge=knowledge,
    search_knowledge=True,
    # Format knowledge references as YAML instead of the default JSON
    references_format="yaml",
    markdown=True,
)

# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Run Agent
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
if __name__ == "__main__":
    knowledge.insert(url="https://agno-public.s3.amazonaws.com/recipes/ThaiRecipes.pdf")
    agent.print_response(
        "How do I make chicken and galangal in coconut milk soup?",
        stream=True,
    )

Run the Example

1. Set up your virtual environment

   Mac

   uv venv --python 3.12
   source .venv/bin/activate
   

   uv venv --python 3.12
   .venv\Scripts\activate
   
2. Install dependencies

   uv pip install -U agno openai pgvector psycopg-binary pypdf sqlalchemy
   
3. Export your OpenAI API key

   Mac/Linux

   export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key_here"
   

   $Env:OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key_here"
   
4. Run PgVector

   docker run -d \
     -e POSTGRES_DB=ai \
     -e POSTGRES_USER=ai \
     -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=ai \
     -e PGDATA=/var/lib/postgresql \
     -v pgvolume:/var/lib/postgresql \
     -p 5532:5432 \
     --name pgvector \
     agnohq/pgvector:18
   
5. Run the example

   Save the code above as references_format.py, then run:

   python references_format.py
   

Full source: cookbook/02_agents/07_knowledge/references_format.py