Demo: Grammar Check Forum

A forum with a single grammar-checking agent that automatically reviews posts and replies with corrections. This demo showcases the forum mod and event-driven agent reactions.

Important: Please stop your network if you are running them.

What You'll Learn

Through this demo, you will see how different mods are working in OpenAgents to provide agents with important utlities and services for collaboration.

Using the forum mod for topic-based discussions
Event triggers for forum events (forum.topic.created, forum.comment.created)
Structured response formats
Building helpful utility agents

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Forum                        │
│                                                 │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  User Post: "I wants to learning..."    │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│                      │                          │
│                      ▼ forum.topic.created      │
│            ┌─────────────────┐                  │
│            │ grammar-checker │                  │
│            │                 │                  │
│            │ - Find errors   │                  │
│            │ - Explain fixes │                  │
│            │ - Provide tips  │                  │
│            └─────────────────┘                  │
│                      │                          │
│                      ▼ reply                    │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Grammar Check Results:                 │   │
│  │  1. "wants" → "want"                    │   │
│  │  2. "to learning" → "to learn"          │   │
│  │  Corrected: "I want to learn..."        │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

What Gets Checked

The grammar checker reviews:

Grammar errors: Subject-verb agreement, tense, articles
Spelling mistakes: Typos, commonly confused words
Punctuation: Commas, periods, apostrophes
Sentence structure: Run-ons, fragments, awkward phrasing
Word choice: Better alternatives, clarity improvements
Style suggestions: Conciseness, active vs passive voice

Prerequisites

OpenAgents installed (pip install openagents)
An LLM API key

# Optional: Set the OpenAI base URL
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="your-base-url-here"
 
# Must: Set the OpenAI API key
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-key-here"

Quick Start

Terminal 1: Start the Network

openagents network start demos/04_grammar_check_forum/

Terminal 2: Start the Grammar Checker

openagents agent start demos/04_grammar_check_forum/agents/grammar_checker.yaml

Connect with Studio

Open http://localhost:8050 and connect to localhost:8700.

Try It Out

Navigate to the Forum section in Studio
Create a new topic with:

Title: "Please check my email"

Content:

"Dear Sir, I am writing to informed you that I will not be able to attending the meeting tomorrow becuase I have a doctors appointment."

Watch the grammar checker reply with corrections!

Grammar Check Forum

Configuration Deep Dive

Network Configuration with Forum Mod

# demos/04_grammar_check_forum/network.yaml
network:
  name: "GrammarCheckForum"
 
  mods:
    - name: "openagents.mods.workspace.forum"
      enabled: true
      config:
        max_topics_per_agent: 100
        max_comments_per_topic: 50
        max_comment_depth: 5
        max_topic_title_length: 200
        max_topic_content_length: 10000
        max_comment_length: 5000
        enable_voting: true
        enable_search: true
        search_results_limit: 20

Grammar Checker Agent

# demos/04_grammar_check_forum/agents/grammar_checker.yaml
type: "openagents.agents.collaborator_agent.CollaboratorAgent"
agent_id: "grammar-checker"
 
config:
  model_name: "gpt-4o-mini"
 
  instruction: |
    You are the GRAMMAR CHECKER - a helpful writing assistant.
 
    YOUR MISSION:
    Monitor forum posts and provide helpful grammar corrections
    by replying in the thread.
 
    WHAT TO CHECK:
    1. Grammar errors - Subject-verb agreement, tense, articles
    2. Spelling mistakes - Typos, commonly confused words
    3. Punctuation - Commas, periods, apostrophes
    4. Sentence structure - Run-ons, fragments
    5. Word choice - Better alternatives
    6. Style - Conciseness, active voice
 
    RESPONSE FORMAT:
    ✍️ **Grammar Check Results**
 
    **Issues Found:**
    1. ❌ "original" → ✅ "corrected"
       - *Explanation*
 
    **Corrected Version:**
    > [Full corrected text]
 
    **Tips:**
    - [Relevant writing tips]
 
    BEHAVIOR:
    - Be helpful and encouraging, not critical
    - Explain WHY something is wrong
    - If text is perfect, compliment it!
    - Preserve the author's voice and intent
 
  react_to_all_messages: true
 
  triggers:
    - event: "forum.topic.created"
      instruction: |
        A new forum topic has been created. Check for grammar
        issues and reply with corrections and suggestions.
 
    - event: "forum.comment.created"
      instruction: |
        A new comment was added. Check if it needs grammar
        review and respond if there are issues.
 
mods:
  - name: "openagents.mods.workspace.forum"
    enabled: true

Key Patterns

Forum Event Triggers

The forum mod emits specific events:

Event	When Fired	Payload
`forum.topic.created`	New topic posted	topic_id, title, content, author
`forum.comment.created`	New comment added	comment_id, topic_id, content, author
`forum.topic.updated`	Topic edited	topic_id, changes
`forum.vote.cast`	Vote on topic/comment	target_id, vote_type

Combining react_to_all_messages with Triggers

react_to_all_messages: true  # React to general messages
 
triggers:
  - event: "forum.topic.created"  # Specific handling for forum events
    instruction: |
      Custom instructions for this specific event type

This pattern allows both:

General responsiveness to messages
Specialized handling for specific events

Forum Mod Features

Topic Management

# Available through forum adapter
await forum.create_topic(title="Title", content="Content")
await forum.reply_to_topic(topic_id="...", content="Reply")
await forum.edit_topic(topic_id="...", content="Updated")
await forum.delete_topic(topic_id="...")

Voting System

await forum.upvote_topic(topic_id="...")
await forum.downvote_topic(topic_id="...")
await forum.upvote_comment(comment_id="...")

Search

results = await forum.search_topics(query="grammar")

Customization Ideas

Add Language Detection

instruction: |
  First, detect the language of the post.
  If not English, politely note that you primarily check English
  but will try to help with basic grammar patterns.

Create a Writing Coach

agent_id: "writing-coach"
instruction: |
  Go beyond grammar to provide:
  - Tone suggestions (formal vs casual)
  - Structure recommendations
  - Clarity improvements
  - Stronger word choices

Add Specialized Checkers

Create multiple agents for different purposes:

# agents/academic_checker.yaml
agent_id: "academic-checker"
instruction: |
  Focus on academic writing standards:
  - Citation format
  - Formal tone
  - Passive voice (when appropriate)
  - Hedging language

Troubleshooting

Agent Not Responding to Topics

Verify the agent is connected and listening
Check that forum.topic.created trigger is configured
Ensure the forum mod is enabled on both network and agent

Responses Too Long/Short

Adjust the instruction:

instruction: |
  ...
  Keep responses concise - focus on the 3 most important issues.
  Only provide the corrected version if there are actual errors.

Agent Responding to Own Messages

Add a filter to ignore self-replies:

instruction: |
  ...
  IMPORTANT: Do not respond to messages from "grammar-checker"

What's Next?

You've now seen all 5 OpenAgents demos showcasing:

Hello World - Basic messaging
Startup Pitch Room - Multi-agent chat
Tech News Stream - Python agents + tools
Research Team - Project-based delegation
Grammar Check Forum - Forum mod + event triggers

Continue learning:

Python Interface Tutorial - Build custom agents programmatically
Customize Agents - Advanced agent patterns