support retrievaling assistant by name

autogen/agentchat/contrib/gpt_assistant_agent.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import logging
 
 from autogen import OpenAIWrapper
+from autogen.oai.openai_utils import retrieve_assistants_by_name
 from autogen.agentchat.agent import Agent
 from autogen.agentchat.assistant_agent import ConversableAgent
 from autogen.agentchat.assistant_agent import AssistantAgent
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ def __init__(
     ):
         """
         Args:
-            name (str): name of the agent.
+            name (str): name of the agent. It will be used to find the existing assistant by name. Please remember to delete an old assistant with the same name if you intend to create a new assistant with the same name.
             instructions (str): instructions for the OpenAI assistant configuration.
             When instructions is not None, the system message of the agent will be
             set to the provided instructions and used in the assistant run, irrespective
@@ -52,20 +53,31 @@ def __init__(
         self._openai_client = oai_wrapper._clients[0]
         openai_assistant_id = llm_config.get("assistant_id", None)
         if openai_assistant_id is None:
-            logger.warning("assistant_id was None, creating a new assistant")
-            # create a new assistant
-            if instructions is None:
-                logger.warning(
-                    "No instructions were provided for new assistant. Using default instructions from AssistantAgent.DEFAULT_SYSTEM_MESSAGE."
+            # try to find assistant by name first
+            candidate_assistants = retrieve_assistants_by_name(self._openai_client, name)
+
+            if len(candidate_assistants) == 0:
+                logger.warning(f"assistant {name} does not exist, creating a new assistant")
+                # create a new assistant
+                if instructions is None:
+                    logger.warning(
+                        "No instructions were provided for new assistant. Using default instructions from AssistantAgent.DEFAULT_SYSTEM_MESSAGE."
+                    )
+                    instructions = AssistantAgent.DEFAULT_SYSTEM_MESSAGE
+                self._openai_assistant = self._openai_client.beta.assistants.create(
+                    name=name,
+                    instructions=instructions,
+                    tools=llm_config.get("tools", []),
+                    model=llm_config.get("model", "gpt-4-1106-preview"),
+                    file_ids=llm_config.get("file_ids", []),
                 )
-                instructions = AssistantAgent.DEFAULT_SYSTEM_MESSAGE
-            self._openai_assistant = self._openai_client.beta.assistants.create(
-                name=name,
-                instructions=instructions,
-                tools=llm_config.get("tools", []),
-                model=llm_config.get("model", "gpt-4-1106-preview"),
-                file_ids=llm_config.get("file_ids", []),
-            )
+            else:
+                if len(candidate_assistants) > 1:
+                    logger.warning(
+                        f"Multiple assistants with name {name} found. Using the first assistant in the list. "
+                        f"Please specify the assistant ID in llm_config to use a specific assistant."
+                    )
+                self._openai_assistant = candidate_assistants[0]
         else:
             # retrieve an existing assistant
             self._openai_assistant = self._openai_client.beta.assistants.retrieve(openai_assistant_id)
@@ -95,7 +107,7 @@ def __init__(
             llm_config=llm_config,
         )
 
-        # lazly create thread
+        # lazly create threads
         self._openai_threads = {}
         self._unread_index = defaultdict(int)
         self.register_reply(Agent, GPTAssistantAgent._invoke_assistant)

autogen/oai/openai_utils.py

@@ -381,3 +381,15 @@ def config_list_from_dotenv(
 
     logging.info(f"Models available: {[config['model'] for config in config_list]}")
     return config_list
+
+
+def retrieve_assistants_by_name(client, name) -> str:
+    """
+    Return the assistants with the given name from OAI assistant API
+    """
+    assistants = client.beta.assistants.list()
+    candidate_assistants = []
+    for assistant in assistants.data:
+        if assistant.name == name:
+            candidate_assistants.append(assistant)
+    return candidate_assistants

test/agentchat/contrib/test_gpt_assistant.py

@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@
 from test_assistant_agent import KEY_LOC, OAI_CONFIG_LIST  # noqa: E402
 
 try:
+    import openai
     from autogen.agentchat.contrib.gpt_assistant_agent import GPTAssistantAgent
+    from autogen.oai.openai_utils import retrieve_assistants_by_name
 
     skip_test = False
 except ImportError:
@@ -57,14 +59,16 @@ def test_gpt_assistant_chat():
     ok, response = analyst._invoke_assistant(
         [{"role": "user", "content": "What is the most popular open source project on GitHub?"}]
     )
+    executable = analyst.can_execute_function("ossinsight_data_api")
+    analyst.reset()
+    threads_count = len(analyst._openai_threads)
+    analyst.delete_assistant()
+
     assert ok is True
     assert response.get("role", "") == "assistant"
     assert len(response.get("content", "")) > 0
-
-    assert analyst.can_execute_function("ossinsight_data_api") is False
-
-    analyst.reset()
-    assert len(analyst._openai_threads) == 0
+    assert executable is False
+    assert threads_count == 0
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
@@ -203,6 +207,41 @@ def test_get_assistant_files():
     assert expected_file_id in retrived_file_ids
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    sys.platform in ["darwin", "win32"] or skip_test,
+    reason="do not run on MacOS or windows or dependency is not installed",
+)
+def test_assistant_retrieval():
+    """
+    Test function to check if the GPTAssistantAgent can retrieve the same assistant
+    """
+
+    name = "For GPTAssistantAgent retrieval testing"
+
+    assistant_first = GPTAssistantAgent(
+        name,
+        instructions="This is a test",
+        llm_config={"config_list": config_list},
+    )
+    candidate_first = retrieve_assistants_by_name(assistant_first.openai_client, name)
+
+    assistant_second = GPTAssistantAgent(
+        name,
+        instructions="This is a test",
+        llm_config={"config_list": config_list},
+    )
+    candidate_second = retrieve_assistants_by_name(assistant_second.openai_client, name)
+
+    try:
+        assistant_first.delete_assistant()
+        assistant_second.delete_assistant()
+    except openai.NotFoundError:
+        # Not found error is expected because the same assistant can not be deleted twice
+        pass
+
+    assert candidate_first == candidate_second
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_gpt_assistant_chat()
     test_get_assistant_instructions()