microsoft/semantic-kernel · error · ValueError

Agent does not exist. Please create the agent before deletin

Error message

Agent does not exist. Please create the agent before deleting it.

What it means

Raised by delete_agent when self.agent_model.agent_id is falsy. The delete_agent boto3 call needs an agentId; without one there is nothing to delete. Occurs when delete_agent is called on a BedrockAgent that was never created or was already deleted (agent_id is set to None after a successful delete).

Source

Thrown at python/semantic_kernel/agents/bedrock/bedrock_agent_base.py:127

                    self.bedrock_client.prepare_agent,
                    agentId=self.agent_model.agent_id,
                ),
            )

            # The agent will take some time to enter the PREPARING status after the prepare operation is called.
            # We need to wait for the agent to reach the PREPARING status before we can proceed, otherwise we
            # will return immediately if the agent is already in PREPARED status.
            await self._wait_for_agent_status(BedrockAgentStatus.PREPARING)
            # The agent will enter the PREPARED status when the preparation is complete.
            await self._wait_for_agent_status(BedrockAgentStatus.PREPARED)
        except ClientError as e:
            logger.error(f"Failed to prepare agent {self.agent_model.agent_id}.")
            raise e

    async def delete_agent(self, **kwargs) -> None:
        """Delete an agent asynchronously."""
        if not self.agent_model.agent_id:
            raise ValueError("Agent does not exist. Please create the agent before deleting it.")

        try:
            await run_in_executor(
                None,
                partial(
                    self.bedrock_client.delete_agent,
                    agentId=self.agent_model.agent_id,
                    **kwargs,
                ),
            )

            self.agent_model.agent_id = None
        except ClientError as e:
            logger.error(f"Failed to delete agent {self.agent_model.agent_id}.")
            raise e

    async def _get_agent(self) -> None:
        """Get an agent."""

View on GitHub (pinned to c028a0c7dc)

Solutions

1. Guard the delete call: if agent.agent_model.agent_id: await agent.delete_agent().
2. Avoid calling delete_agent twice; after the first successful call agent_id is None.
3. Only call delete on agents created via create_and_prepare_agent or loaded with a valid agent_id.

Example fix

// before
await agent.delete_agent()  # first call succeeds, sets agent_id=None
await agent.delete_agent()  # second call raises

// after
if agent.agent_model.agent_id:
    await agent.delete_agent()

def safe_delete(agent) -> bool:
    return bool(agent.agent_model.agent_id)

# usage
if safe_delete(agent):
    await agent.delete_agent()

def agent_has_id(agent) -> bool:
    return bool(getattr(getattr(agent, "agent_model", None), "agent_id", None))

try:
    await agent.delete_agent()
except ValueError as e:
    if "create the agent before deleting" in str(e):
        # already deleted or never created; safe to ignore
        pass
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Triggered when calling delete_agent() on an agent whose agent_model.agent_id is None/empty — e.g. a manually constructed agent, or calling delete twice (the first call sets agent_id = None at line 139).

Common situations: Double-deleting an agent (second call fails because agent_id was nulled); deleting a manually-constructed agent that was never provisioned; cleanup code that runs unconditionally.

Related errors

• Agent does not exist. Please create the agent before prepari
• Agent does not exist. Please create the agent before getting
• Agent does not exist. Please create the agent before creatin
• The Bedrock agent requires a message to be invoked.
• The streaming configuration must be null for non-streaming r

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/semantic-kernel@c028a0c7dc (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9709f279643c4b0f. Report an issue: GitHub.