Blog: Building Intelligent Agentic RAG with CrewAI and Qdrant (#1423)

* Blog: Building Intelligent Agentic RAG with CrewAI and Qdrant * Adjust the publication date * Incorporate Maddie changes
2026-09-25 14:08:30 +02:00 · 2025-01-24 16:10:16 +01:00
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+---
+draft: false
+title: "How to Build Intelligent Agentic RAG with CrewAI and Qdrant"
+slug: webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian
+short_description: "Email automation with CrewAI, Qdrant, and Obsidian notes"
+description: "Learn how to build an agentic RAG system to semi-automate email communication with CrewAI, Qdrant, and Obsidian."
+preview_image: /blog/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/preview.jpg
+date: 2025-01-24T09:00:00.000Z
+author: Kacper Łukawski
+featured: false
+---
+
+In a recent live session, we teamed up with [CrewAI](https://crewai.com/), a framework for building intelligent, 
+multi-agent applications. If you missed it, [Kacper Łukawski](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kacperlukawski/) from Qdrant 
+and [Tony Kipkemboi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonykipkemboi) from [CrewAI](https://crewai.com/) gave an insightful 
+overview of CrewAI’s capabilities and demonstrated how to leverage Qdrant for creating an agentic RAG 
+(Retrieval-Augmented Generation) system. The focus was on semi-automating email communication, using 
+[Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) as the knowledge base.
+
+In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of setting up an AI-powered system that connects directly to your
+email inbox and knowledge base, enabling it to analyze incoming messages and existing content to generate contextually
+relevant response suggestions.
+
+## Background agents
+
+Although we got used to LLM-based apps that usually have a chat-like interface, even if it's not a real UI but a CLI 
+tool, plenty of day-to-day tasks can be automated in the background without explicit human action firing the process. 
+This concept is also known as **ambient agents**, where the agent is always there, waiting for a trigger to act.
+
+### The basic concepts of CrewAI
+
+Thanks for Tony's participation, we could learn more about CrewAI, and understand the basic concepts of the framework.
+He introduced the concepts of agents and crews, and how they can be used to build intelligent multi-agent applications.
+Moreover, Tony described different types of memory that CrewAI applications can use. 
+
+When it comes to Qdrant role in CrewAI applications, it can be used as short-term, or entity memory, as both components
+are based on RAG and vector embeddings. If you'd like to know more about memory in CrewAI, please visit the [CrewAI
+concepts](https://docs.crewai.com/concepts/memory).
+
+Tony made an interesting analogy. He compared crews to different departments in a company, where each department has its
+own responsibilities, but they all work together to achieve the company's goals.
+
+### Email automation with CrewAI, Qdrant, and Obsidian notes
+
+Our webinar focused on building an agentic RAG system that would semi-automate email communication. RAG is an essential 
+component of such a system, as you don't want to take responsibility for responses that cannot be grounded. The system
+would monitor your Gmail inbox, analyze the incoming emails, and prepare response drafts if it detects that the email is
+not spam, newsletter, or notification.
+
+On the other hand, the system would also monitor the Obsidian notes, by watching any changes in the local file system.
+When a file is created, modified, or deleted, the system would automatically move these changes to the Qdrant 
+collection, so the knowledge base is always up-to-date. Obsidian uses Markdown files to store notes, so complex parsing
+is not required.
+
+Here is a simplified diagram presenting the target architecture of the system:
+
+![Project architecture](/blog/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/project-architecture.png)
+
+Qdrant acts as a knowledge base, storing the embeddings of the Obsidian notes. 
+
+## Implementing the system
+
+Since our system integrates with two external APIs - Gmail and filesystem. **We won't go into details of how to work
+with these APIs**, as it's out of the scope of this webinar. Instead, we will focus on the CrewAI and Qdrant 
+integration, and CrewAI agents' implementation.
+
+### CrewAI <> Qdrant integration
+
+Since there is no official integration between CrewAI and Qdrant yet, we created a custom implementation of the 
+`RAGStorage` class, which has a pretty straightforward interface. 
+
+```python
+from typing import Optional
+from crewai.memory.storage.rag_storage import RAGStorage
+
+class QdrantStorage(RAGStorage):
+    """
+    Extends Storage to handle embeddings for memory entries 
+    using Qdrant.
+    """
+
+    ...
+
+    def search(self,
+        query: str,
+        limit: int = 3,
+        filter: Optional[dict] = None,
+        score_threshold: float = 0,
+    ) -> list[dict]:
+        ...
+
+    def reset(self) -> None:
+        ...
+```
+
+Full implementation might be found in the [GitHub 
+repository](https://github.com/qdrant/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/blob/main/src/email_assistant/storage.py). You can
+use it for your own projects, or as a reference for your custom implementation. If you want to set up a crew that uses
+Qdrant as both entity and short memory layers, you can do it like this:
+
+```python
+from crewai import Crew, Process
+from crewai.memory import EntityMemory, ShortTermMemory
+from email_assistant.storage import QdrantStorage
+
+qdrant_location= "http://localhost:6333"
+qdrant_api_key = "your-secret-api-key"
+embedder_config = {...}
+
+crew = Crew(
+    agents=[...],
+    tasks=[...],  # Automatically created by the @task decorator
+    process=Process.sequential,
+    memory=True,
+    entity_memory=EntityMemory(
+        storage=QdrantStorage(
+            type="entity-memory",
+            embedder_config=embedder_config,
+            qdrant_location=qdrant_location,
+            qdrant_api_key=qdrant_api_key,
+        ),
+    ),
+    short_term_memory=ShortTermMemory(
+        storage=QdrantStorage(
+            type="short-term-memory",
+            embedder_config=embedder_config,
+            qdrant_location=qdrant_location,
+            qdrant_api_key=qdrant_api_key,
+        ),
+    ),
+    embedder=embedder_config,
+    verbose=True,
+)
+```
+
+Both types of memory will use different collection names in Qdrant, so you can easily distinguish between them, and the
+data won't be mixed up.
+
+**We are planning to release a CrewAI tool for Qdrant integration in the near future**, so stay tuned!
+
+### Loading the Obsidian notes to Qdrant
+
+For the sake of the demo, we decided to simply scrape the documentation of both CrewAI and Qdrant, and store it in the
+Obsidian notes. That's easy with Obsidian Web Clipper, as it allows you to save the web page as a Markdown file.
+
+![Obsidian notes](/blog/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/obsidian.png)
+
+Assuming we detected a change in the Obsidian notes, such as new note creation or modification, we would like to load 
+the changes to Qdrant. We could possibly use some chunking methods, starting from basic fixed-size chunks, or go 
+straight to semantic chunking. However, LLMs are also well-known for their ability to divide the text into meaningful 
+parts, so we decided to try them out. Moreover, standard chunking is enough in many cases, but we also wanted to test
+the [Contextual Retrieval concept introduced by Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/news/contextual-retrieval). In a 
+nutshell, the idea is to use LLMs to generate a short context for each chunk, so it situates the chunk in the context of
+the whole document. 
+
+It turns out, implementing such a crew in CrewAI is quite straightforward. There are two actors in the crew - one
+chunking the text and the other one generating the context. Both might be defined in YAML files like this:
+
+```yaml
+chunks_extractor:
+  role: >
+    Semantic chunks extractor
+  goal: >
+    Parse Markdown to extract digestible pieces of information which are
+    semantically meaningful and can be easily understood by a human.
+  backstory: >
+    You are a search expert building a search engine for Markdown files.
+    Once you receive a Markdown file, you divide it into meaningful semantic
+    chunks, so each chunk is about a certain topic or concept. You're known 
+    for your ability to extract relevant information from large documents and 
+    present it in a structured and easy-to-understand format, that increases
+    the searchability of the content and results quality.
+
+contextualizer:
+  role: >
+    Bringing context to the extracted chunks
+  goal: >
+    Add context to the extracted chunks to make them more meaningful and
+    understandable. This context should help the reader understand the
+    significance of the information and how it relates to the broader topic.
+  backstory: >
+    You are a knowledge curator who specializes in making information more
+    accessible and understandable. You take the extracted chunks and provide
+    additional context to make them more meaningful by bringing in relevant
+    information about the whole document or the topic at hand.
+```
+
+CrewAI makes it very easy to define such agents, and even a non-tech person can understand and modify the YAML files.
+
+Another YAML file defines the tasks that the agents should perform:
+
+```yaml
+extract_chunks:
+  description: >
+    Review the document you got and extract the chunks from it. Each 
+    chunk should be a separate piece of information that can be easily understood 
+    by a human and is semantically meaningful. If there are two or more chunks that 
+    are closely related, but not put next to each other, you can merge them into 
+    a single chunk. It is important to cover all the important information in the
+    document and make sure that the chunks are logically structured and coherent.
+    
+    <document>{document}</document>
+  expected_output: >
+    A list of semantic chunks with succinct context of information extracted from 
+    the document.
+  agent: chunks_extractor
+
+contextualize_chunks:
+  description: >
+    You have the chunks we want to situate within the whole document.
+    Please give a short succinct context to situate this chunk within the overall 
+    document for the purposes of improving search retrieval of the chunk. Answer 
+    only with the succinct context and nothing else.
+  expected_output: >
+    A short succinct context to situate the chunk within the overall document, along
+    with the chunk itself.
+  agent: contextualizer
+```
+
+YAML is not enough to make the agents work, so we need to implement them in Python. The role, goal, and backstory
+of the agent, as well as the task description and expected output, are used to build a prompt sent to the LLM. However,
+the code defines which LLM to use, and some other parameters of the interaction, like structured output. We heavily rely
+on Pydantic models to define the output of the task, so the responses might be easily processed by the application,
+for example, to store them in Qdrant.
+
+```python
+from crewai import Agent, Crew, Process, Task
+from crewai.project import CrewBase, agent, crew, task
+from email_assistant import models
+
+...
+
+@CrewBase
+class KnowledgeOrganizingCrew(BaseCrew):
+    """
+    A crew responsible for processing raw text data and converting it into structured knowledge.
+    """
+
+    agents_config = "config/knowledge/agents.yaml"
+    tasks_config = "config/knowledge/tasks.yaml"
+
+    @agent
+    def chunks_extractor(self) -> Agent:
+        return Agent(
+            config=self.agents_config["chunks_extractor"],
+            verbose=True,
+            llm="anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022",
+        )
+
+    ...
+
+    @task
+    def contextualize_chunks(self) -> Task:
+        # The task description is borrowed from the Anthropic Contextual Retrieval
+        # See: https://www.anthropic.com/news/contextual-retrieval/
+        return Task(
+            config=self.tasks_config["contextualize_chunks"],
+            output_pydantic=models.ContextualizedChunks,
+        )
+
+    ...
+
+    @crew
+    def crew(self) -> Crew:
+        """Creates the KnowledgeOrganizingCrew crew"""
+        return Crew(
+            agents=self.agents,  # Automatically created by the @agent decorator
+            tasks=self.tasks,  # Automatically created by the @task decorator
+            process=Process.sequential,
+            memory=True,
+            entity_memory=self.entity_memory(),
+            short_term_memory=self.short_term_memory(),
+            embedder=self.embedder_config,
+            verbose=True,
+        )
+```
+
+Full implementation might again be found in the [GitHub 
+repository](https://github.com/qdrant/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/blob/main/src/email_assistant/crew.py).
+
+### Drafting emails in Gmail Inbox
+
+At this point we already have our notes stored in Qdrant, and we can write emails in Gmail Inbox using the notes as a
+ground truth. The system would monitor the Gmail inbox, and if it detects an email that is not spam, newsletter, or
+notification, it would draft a response based on the knowledge base stored in Qdrant. Again, that means we need to use
+two agents - one for detecting the kind of the incoming email, and the other one for drafting the response.
+
+The YAML files for these agents might look like this:
+
+```yaml
+categorizer:
+  role: >
+    Email threads categorizer
+  goal: >
+    Automatically categorize email threads based on their content.
+  backstory: >
+    You're a virtual assistant with a knack for organizing information.
+    You're known for your ability to quickly and accurately categorize email
+    threads, so that your clients know which ones are important to answer
+    and which ones are spam, newsletters, or other types of messages that
+    do not require attention.
+    Available categories: QUESTION, NOTIFICATION, NEWSLETTER, SPAM. Do not make
+    up new categories.
+
+response_writer:
+  role: >
+    Email response writer
+  goal: >
+    Write clear and concise responses to an email thread. Try to help the
+    sender. Use the external knowledge base to provide relevant information.
+  backstory: >
+    You are a professional writer with a talent for crafting concise and
+    informative responses. You're known for your ability to quickly understand
+    the context of an email thread and provide a helpful and relevant response
+    that addresses the sender's needs. You always rely on your knowledge base
+    to provide accurate and up-to-date information.
+```
+
+The set of categories is predefined, so the categorizer should not invent new categories. The task definitions are as
+follows:
+
+```yaml
+categorization_task:
+  description: >
+    Review the content of the following email thread and categorize it 
+    into the appropriate category. There might be multiple categories that
+    apply to the email thread.
+    
+    <messages>{messages}</messages>
+  expected_output: >
+    A list of all the categories that the email threads can be classified into.
+  agent: categorizer
+
+response_writing_task:
+  description: >
+    Write a response to the following email thread. The response should be
+    clear, concise, and helpful to the sender. Always rely on the Qdrant search
+    tool, so you can get the most relevant information to craft your response.
+    Please try to include the source URLs of the information you provide.
+    
+    Only focus on the real question asked by the sender and do not try to 
+    address any other issues that are not directly related to the sender's needs.
+    Do not try to provide a response if the context is not clear enough.
+    
+    <messages>{messages}</messages>
+  expected_output: >
+    A well-crafted response to the email thread that addresses the sender's needs.
+    Please use simple HTML formatting to make the response more readable.
+    Do not include greetings or signatures in your response, but provide the footnotes
+    with the source URLs of the information you used, if possible.
+    
+    If the provided context does not give you enough information to write a response,
+    you must admit that you cannot provide a response and write "I cannot provide a response.".
+  agent: response_writer
+```
+
+We specifically asked the agents to include the source URLs of the information they provide, so both the sender and the
+recipient can verify the information.
+
+### Working system
+
+We have both crews defined, and the application is ready to run. The only thing left is to monitor the Gmail inbox and
+the Obsidian notes for changes. We use the `watchdog` library to monitor the filesystem, and the `google-api-python-client`
+to monitor the Gmail inbox, but we won't go into details of how to use these libraries, as the integration code would 
+make this blog post too long.
+
+If you open the [main file of the 
+application](https://github.com/qdrant/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/blob/main/main.py), you will see that it is quite 
+simple. It runs two separate threads, one for monitoring the Gmail inbox, and the other one for monitoring the Obsidian 
+notes. If there is any event detected, the application will run the appropriate crew to process the data, and the 
+resulting response will be sent back to the email thread, or Qdrant collection, respectively. No UI is required, as your
+ambient agents are working in the background.
+
+## Results
+
+The system is now ready to run, and it can semi-automate email communication, and keep the knowledge base up-to-date.
+If you set it up properly, you can expect the system to draft responses to emails that are not spam, newsletter, or
+notification, so your email inbox may look like this, even when you sleep:
+
+![Drafted emails](/blog/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/gmail-inbox.png)
+
+## Materials
+
+As usual, we prepared a video recording of the webinar, so you can watch it at your convenience:
+
+<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/soGB3UowTZ0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
+
+The source code of the demo is available on [GitHub](https://github.com/qdrant/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/), so if 
+you would like to try it out yourself, feel free to clone or fork the repository and follow the instructions in the 
+[README](https://github.com/qdrant/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/blob/main/README.md) file.
+
+Are you building agentic RAG applications using CrewAI and Qdrant? Please join [our Discord 
+community](https://github.com/qdrant/webinar-crewai-qdrant-obsidian/blob/main/README.md) and share your experience!