Chat with Flow

Overview

The Chat with Flow feature lets users interact with a deployed flow through a conversational chat interface directly in the platform UI. It is also used internally for other platform AI features such as generating automation descriptions and improving Studio prompts. This feature requires a built-in LLM to be configured via Helm chart values. Without it, users will see a generic error message when attempting to chat with a flow:

“Sorry, I’m having trouble answering your question. Please try again later.”

This is separate from Studio V2, which has its own setup process. See the Studio V2 guide for that configuration.

Prerequisites

CrewAI Platform is deployed and running
An API key for a supported LLM provider (OpenAI or Anthropic)

Configuration

Three Helm chart values control the built-in LLM. Two are non-sensitive environment variables and one is a secret:

Environment Variables (non-sensitive)

Set these under env in your values.yaml:

env:
  # Built-in LLM configuration
  # Used for chatting with flows, generating automation descriptions,
  # improving Studio prompts, etc.
  BUILT_IN_LLM_MODEL: "gpt-4.1-mini"        # Model name
  BUILT_IN_LLM_PROVIDER: "openai"            # "openai" or "anthropic"

Variable	Description	Default	Required
`BUILT_IN_LLM_PROVIDER`	LLM provider to use. Supported values: `openai`, `anthropic`.	`openai`	Yes
`BUILT_IN_LLM_MODEL`	Model identifier for the chosen provider (e.g. `gpt-4.1-mini`, `claude-sonnet-4-20250514`).	`gpt-4.1-mini`	Yes

Secrets (sensitive)

Set this under secrets in your values.yaml:

secrets:
  BUILT_IN_LLM_API_KEY: "sk-..."   # Your LLM provider API key

Variable	Description	Required
`BUILT_IN_LLM_API_KEY`	API key for the configured LLM provider.	Yes

If BUILT_IN_LLM_API_KEY is not set or is invalid, all Chat with Flow attempts will fail. A 401 error in the logs typically means the API key is missing, expired, or incorrect.

Apply the Configuration

After updating your values.yaml, upgrade the Helm release:

helm upgrade crewai <chart-path> -f values.yaml -n <namespace>

No rake tasks or manual setup steps are required — the platform picks up the environment variables on restart.

Verify

Deploy a flow (or use an existing deployed flow)
Click Chat with this crew from the deployment dashboard
Send a test message (e.g., “Hi”)
You should receive a response from the flow instead of an error

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
”Sorry, I’m having trouble answering your question”	`BUILT_IN_LLM_API_KEY` not set or invalid	Set a valid API key in `secrets.BUILT_IN_LLM_API_KEY` and upgrade the release
401 Unauthorized in logs	Expired or incorrect API key	Rotate the API key with your LLM provider and update the secret
Chat option not visible	Flow is not deployed or not in “Online” status	Check the deployment dashboard — the flow must be Online
Model not found errors	`BUILT_IN_LLM_MODEL` set to an unsupported model	Use a valid model name for the configured provider

Core Configuration

Authentication

Built-In Integrations

Advanced

Overview

Prerequisites

Configuration

Environment Variables (non-sensitive)

Secrets (sensitive)

Apply the Configuration

Verify

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Configuration

​Environment Variables (non-sensitive)

​Secrets (sensitive)

​Apply the Configuration

​Verify

​Troubleshooting

Overview

Prerequisites

Configuration

Environment Variables (non-sensitive)

Secrets (sensitive)

Apply the Configuration

Verify

Troubleshooting