# rpk ai agent create

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/llms.txt). Component-specific: [agentic-data-plane-full.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane-full.txt)

---
title: rpk ai agent create
latest-operator-version: v26.2.1
latest-console-tag: v3.9.0
latest-connect-version: 4.104.0
latest-redpanda-tag: v26.2.1
docname: rpk/rpk-ai/rpk-ai-agent-create
page-component-name: agentic-data-plane
page-version: master
page-component-version: master
page-component-title: Agentic Data Plane
page-relative-src-path: rpk/rpk-ai/rpk-ai-agent-create.adoc
page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/adp-docs/edit/main/modules/reference/pages/rpk/rpk-ai/rpk-ai-agent-create.adoc
description: Create an agent.
page-git-created-date: "2026-06-25"
page-git-modified-date: "2026-08-06"
---

<!-- Source: https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane/reference/rpk/rpk-ai/rpk-ai-agent-create.md -->

Create an agent.

## [](#usage)Usage

```bash
rpk ai agent create [flags]
```

## [](#flags)Flags

| Value | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| --description | string | longer description of the agent’s purpose. |
| --display-name | string | display name. |
| --llm-provider | string | name of the LLM provider resource the agent uses. |
| --max-iterations | int32 | maximum agent loop iterations per invocation. |
| --mcp-server | strings | MCP server resource name the agent may call (repeatable). |
| --model | string | model the agent runs (for example, claude-sonnet-4-6). |
| --self-managed | bool | register a metadata-only self-managed agent (the platform won’t run it). |
| --spec-file | string | path to a JSON/YAML ManagedAgentSpec; enables subagents/agent_card that scalar flags can’t express (mutually exclusive with --self-managed and the spec flags). |
| --system-prompt | string | system prompt for the agent. |
| --tag | stringToString | metadata tag key=value (repeatable). |

## [](#global-flags)Global flags

| Value | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| --config | string | Redpanda or rpk config file; default search paths are ~/.config/rpk/rpk.yaml, $PWD/redpanda.yaml, and /etc/redpanda/redpanda.yaml. |
| -X, --config-opt | stringArray | Override rpk configuration settings; -X help for detail or -X list for terser detail. |
| --ignore-profile | bool | Ignore rpk.yaml and redpanda.yaml; use default settings. |
| --profile | string | rpk profile to use. |
| -v, --verbose | bool | Enable verbose logging. |