Step 1: Project Setup

Create the Project

npx create-kernova-app content-pipeline
cd content-pipeline

Add your OpenAI key to .env.local:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-your-key

Restructure for Multi-Agent

We need four agents instead of one. Delete the default agent and create our specialists:

# Remove the default
rm agents/assistant.agent.ts

# We'll create these files in the next steps:
# agents/router.agent.ts
# agents/researcher.agent.ts
# agents/analyzer.agent.ts
# agents/writer.agent.ts

Your project will look like:

content-pipeline/
├── agents/
│   ├── router.agent.ts       ← The brain (decides who handles what)
│   ├── researcher.agent.ts   ← Finds information
│   ├── analyzer.agent.ts     ← Extracts insights
│   ├── writer.agent.ts       ← Produces content
│   └── tools/
│       └── web-search.ts     ← Shared search tool
├── app/
│   └── chat/page.tsx         ← Chat UI (talks to router)
└── ...

Understanding the File-Based Routing

Each agent file becomes an API endpoint:

File	Endpoint	Who calls it
`router.agent.ts`	`/api/agents/router`	The user (via chat UI)
`researcher.agent.ts`	`/api/agents/researcher`	The router (via delegation)
`analyzer.agent.ts`	`/api/agents/analyzer`	The router (via delegation)
`writer.agent.ts`	`/api/agents/writer`	The router (via delegation)

The user only talks to the Router. The Router decides which specialist to call.

Update the Chat Page

Open app/chat/page.tsx and change the hook to talk to the router:

Find:

const { messages, send, isStreaming, streamingContent, abort, clear } = useAgentStream('assistant');

Change to:

const { messages, send, isStreaming, streamingContent, abort, clear } = useAgentStream('router');

This ensures the user’s messages go to the router agent, which then delegates to specialists.

Why a Router?

Without a router, you’d need the user to choose which agent to talk to (“Am I asking the researcher or the writer?”). That’s bad UX.

With a router:

User says “Write a blog post about AI” → Router detects this needs the full pipeline
User says “What happened today in tech?” → Router sends to Researcher only
User says “Make this paragraph better” → Router sends to Writer only

The router is a traffic controller — it never does the work itself, just directs it.

Continue to Step 2: Build the Researcher →