Fix JSON crew version pin (#6342)

* Fix JSON crew version pin

* Use bounded CrewAI dependency range

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/create_flow.py

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import shutil
 import click
 from crewai_core.telemetry import Telemetry
 
+from crewai_cli.version import get_crewai_tools_dependency
+
 
 DECLARATIVE_FLOW_FOLDERS = ("crews", "tools", "knowledge", "skills")
 
@@ -71,6 +73,9 @@ def _create_python_flow(
         content = content.replace("{{name}}", name)
         content = content.replace("{{flow_name}}", class_name)
         content = content.replace("{{folder_name}}", folder_name)
+        content = content.replace(
+            "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}", get_crewai_tools_dependency()
+        )
 
         with open(dst_file, "w") as file:
             file.write(content)
@@ -138,6 +143,9 @@ def _create_declarative_flow(
         content = content.replace("{{name}}", name)
         content = content.replace("{{flow_name}}", class_name)
         content = content.replace("{{folder_name}}", folder_name)
+        content = content.replace(
+            "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}", get_crewai_tools_dependency()
+        )
         dst_file.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8")
 
     (project_root / ".env").write_text("OPENAI_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY", encoding="utf-8")

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/create_json_crew.py

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ from crewai_cli.utils import (
     load_env_vars,
     write_env_file,
 )
+from crewai_cli.version import get_crewai_tools_dependency
 
 
 # ── Provider / model data ───────────────────────────────────────
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ description = "{name} using crewAI"
 authors = [{{ name = "Your Name", email = "you@example.com" }}]
 requires-python = ">=3.10,<3.14"
 dependencies = [
-    "crewai[tools]==1.14.8a1"
+    "{crewai_tools_dependency}"
 ]
 
 [build-system]
@@ -1134,7 +1135,11 @@ def create_json_crew(
 
     # Write pyproject.toml
     (folder_path / "pyproject.toml").write_text(
-        _PYPROJECT_TOML.format(folder_name=folder_name, name=name),
+        _PYPROJECT_TOML.format(
+            folder_name=folder_name,
+            name=name,
+            crewai_tools_dependency=get_crewai_tools_dependency(),
+        ),
         encoding="utf-8",
     )
 

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/run_crew.py

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from crewai_cli.utils import (
     is_dmn_mode_enabled,
     read_toml,
 )
-from crewai_cli.version import get_crewai_version
+from crewai_cli.version import get_crewai_tools_dependency, get_crewai_version
 
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 _INPUT_PLACEHOLDER_RE = re.compile(r"(?<!{){([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_\-]*)}(?!})")
 _CREWAI_CLI_RUNNER_PACKAGE_DIR_ENV = "CREWAI_CLI_RUNNER_PACKAGE_DIR"
 _CREWAI_RUNNER_SOURCE_DIR_ENV = "CREWAI_RUNNER_SOURCE_DIR"
-_FULL_CREWAI_INSTALL_MESSAGE = """\
+_FULL_CREWAI_INSTALL_MESSAGE = f"""\
 CrewAI CLI is installed without the `crewai` package required to run crews.
 
-Install the full CrewAI prerelease package:
+Install the full CrewAI package:
 
-  uv tool install --force --prerelease=allow 'crewai[tools]==1.14.8a1'
+  uv tool install --force '{get_crewai_tools_dependency()}'
 
 The quotes are required in zsh so `crewai[tools]` is not treated as a glob.
 """

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/templates/crew/pyproject.toml

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ description = "{{name}} using crewAI"
 authors = [{ name = "Your Name", email = "you@example.com" }]
 requires-python = ">=3.10,<3.14"
 dependencies = [
-    "crewai[tools]==1.15.0"
+    "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}"
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/templates/declarative_flow/pyproject.toml

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ description = "{{name}} using crewAI"
 authors = [{ name = "Your Name", email = "you@example.com" }]
 requires-python = ">=3.10,<3.14"
 dependencies = [
-    "crewai[tools]==1.15.0"
+    "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}"
 ]
 
 [build-system]

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/templates/flow/pyproject.toml

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ description = "{{name}} using crewAI"
 authors = [{ name = "Your Name", email = "you@example.com" }]
 requires-python = ">=3.10,<3.14"
 dependencies = [
-    "crewai[tools]==1.15.0"
+    "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}"
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/templates/tool/pyproject.toml

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ description = "Power up your crews with {{folder_name}}"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10,<3.14"
 dependencies = [
-    "crewai[tools]==1.15.0"
+    "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}"
 ]
 
 [tool.crewai]

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/tools/main.py

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from crewai_cli.utils import (
     tree_copy,
     tree_find_and_replace,
 )
+from crewai_cli.version import get_crewai_tools_dependency
 
 
 console = Console()
@@ -81,6 +82,9 @@ class ToolCommand(BaseCommand, PlusAPIMixin):
         tree_copy(template_dir, project_root)
         tree_find_and_replace(project_root, "{{folder_name}}", folder_name)
         tree_find_and_replace(project_root, "{{class_name}}", class_name)
+        tree_find_and_replace(
+            project_root, "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}", get_crewai_tools_dependency()
+        )
 
         agents_md_src = Path(__file__).parent.parent / "templates" / "AGENTS.md"
         if agents_md_src.exists():

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/utils.py

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ from crewai_core.tool_credentials import (
 )
 from rich.console import Console
 
+from crewai_cli.version import get_crewai_tools_dependency
+
 
 __all__ = [
     "build_env_with_all_tool_credentials",
@@ -73,6 +75,9 @@ def copy_template(
     content = content.replace("{{name}}", name)
     content = content.replace("{{crew_name}}", class_name)
     content = content.replace("{{folder_name}}", folder_name)
+    content = content.replace(
+        "{{crewai_tools_dependency}}", get_crewai_tools_dependency()
+    )
 
     with open(dst, "w") as file:
         file.write(content)

lib/cli/src/crewai_cli/version.py

@@ -13,10 +13,26 @@ from crewai_core.version import (
     is_current_version_yanked as is_current_version_yanked,
     is_newer_version_available as is_newer_version_available,
 )
+from packaging.version import Version
+
+from crewai_cli import __version__ as _crewai_cli_version
+
+
+def get_crewai_dependency_range(current_version: str | None = None) -> str:
+    """Return the supported CrewAI dependency range for generated projects."""
+    parsed_version = Version(current_version or _crewai_cli_version)
+    return f">={parsed_version},<{parsed_version.major + 1}.0.0"
+
+
+def get_crewai_tools_dependency(current_version: str | None = None) -> str:
+    """Return the generated-project dependency for CrewAI with tools."""
+    return f"crewai[tools]{get_crewai_dependency_range(current_version)}"
 
 
 __all__ = [
     "check_version",
+    "get_crewai_dependency_range",
+    "get_crewai_tools_dependency",
     "get_crewai_version",
     "get_latest_version_from_pypi",
     "is_current_version_yanked",

lib/cli/tests/deploy/test_archive.py

@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ def test_create_project_zip_keeps_json_project_root_shape(tmp_path: Path):
 [project]
 name = "json_crew"
 version = "0.1.0"
-dependencies = ["crewai[tools]==1.14.8a1"]
+dependencies = ["crewai[tools]>=1.15.0,<2.0.0"]
 
 [tool.crewai]
 type = "crew"

lib/cli/tests/test_create_crew.py

@@ -735,8 +735,9 @@ def test_json_create_provider_preselects_default_model(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
 
     pyproject = tomli.loads((tmp_path / "json_crew" / "pyproject.toml").read_text())
     dependency = pyproject["project"]["dependencies"][0]
-    assert dependency == "crewai[tools]==1.14.8a1"
-    assert Version("1.14.8a1") in Requirement(dependency).specifier
+    assert dependency == "crewai[tools]>=1.15.0,<2.0.0"
+    assert Version("1.15.0") in Requirement(dependency).specifier
+    assert Version("2.0.0") not in Requirement(dependency).specifier
     assert pyproject["tool"]["hatch"]["build"]["targets"]["wheel"][
         "only-include"
     ] == ["agents", "crew.jsonc", "tools", "knowledge", "skills"]

lib/cli/tests/test_run_crew.py

@@ -25,10 +25,7 @@ def test_missing_crewai_package_shows_full_install_hint(monkeypatch):
 
     message = exc_info.value.message
     assert "CrewAI CLI is installed without the `crewai` package" in message
-    assert (
-        "uv tool install --force --prerelease=allow 'crewai[tools]==1.14.8a1'"
-        in message
-    )
+    assert "uv tool install --force 'crewai[tools]>=1.15.0,<2.0.0'" in message
     assert "quotes are required in zsh" in message
 
 

lib/cli/tests/test_version.py

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 from crewai_cli.version import get_crewai_version as _get_ver
 from crewai_cli.version import (
+    get_crewai_dependency_range,
+    get_crewai_tools_dependency,
     get_crewai_version,
     get_latest_version_from_pypi,
     is_current_version_yanked,
@@ -31,6 +33,11 @@ def test_dynamic_versioning_consistency() -> None:
     assert len(package_version.strip()) > 0
 
 
+def test_generated_project_dependency_uses_next_major_upper_bound() -> None:
+    assert get_crewai_dependency_range("1.15.0") == ">=1.15.0,<2.0.0"
+    assert get_crewai_tools_dependency("1.15.0") == "crewai[tools]>=1.15.0,<2.0.0"
+
+
 class TestVersionChecking:
     """Test version checking utilities."""
 

lib/cli/tests/tools/test_main.py

@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ def test_create_success(mock_subprocess, capsys, tool_command):
         )
         assert os.path.isfile(os.path.join("test_tool", "src", "test_tool", "tool.py"))
 
+        with open(os.path.join("test_tool", "pyproject.toml"), "r") as f:
+            content = f.read()
+            assert '"crewai[tools]>=1.15.0,<2.0.0"' in content
+
         with open(os.path.join("test_tool", "src", "test_tool", "tool.py"), "r") as f:
             content = f.read()
             assert "class TestTool" in content