Agent SDKs
Agent SDKs are the engines behind AI coding agents. This section focuses on SDKs purpose-built for coding — frameworks designed to help LLMs read, write, debug, and ship code.
Coding Agent SDKs
Section titled “Coding Agent SDKs”These SDKs are specifically built for software engineering agents — they understand codebases, file systems, git, and development workflows.
| SDK | By | Focus | Powers |
|---|---|---|---|
| AdalFlow | Sylph.AI | Self-evolving agents, auto-optimization | AdaL CLI |
| OpenHands SDK | OpenHands | Cloud coding agent platform | OpenHands (formerly OpenDevin) |
| SWE-agent | Princeton NLP | Autonomous issue fixing | SWE-bench SOTA |
| Aider | Paul Gauthier | Terminal pair programming | Aider CLI |
What makes a coding agent SDK different?
Section titled “What makes a coding agent SDK different?”Unlike general-purpose agent frameworks, coding agent SDKs provide:
- Code-aware context — AST parsing, repo maps, dependency graphs
- Edit formats — Structured diff/patch generation (search-replace, unified diff)
- Sandbox execution — Safe code execution in containers
- Git integration — Branch, commit, PR workflows built-in
- SWE-bench tested — Validated on real GitHub issues
General-Purpose Agent Frameworks
Section titled “General-Purpose Agent Frameworks”These are general agent frameworks that can be used to build coding agents, but aren’t coding-specific.
| Framework | By | Key Strength | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| LangGraph | LangChain | Graph-based state machines | Complex multi-step workflows |
| OpenAI Agents SDK | OpenAI | Native OpenAI integration | OpenAI-only agents |
| CrewAI | CrewAI | Role-based multi-agent teams | Team-based automation |
| Microsoft Agent Framework | Microsoft | AutoGen + Semantic Kernel | Enterprise .NET |
| Pydantic AI | Pydantic | Type-safe, model-agnostic | Production APIs |
| Smolagents | Hugging Face | Lightweight, code-first | Prototyping |
| Strands Agents | AWS | Model-driven, provider-agnostic | Multi-agent systems |
Non-Coding Agent SDKs (Brief)
Section titled “Non-Coding Agent SDKs (Brief)”| SDK | By | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Semantic Kernel | Microsoft | Enterprise AI orchestration |
| LlamaIndex Agents | LlamaIndex | RAG + agent workflows |
| Agno | Agno | Lightweight multi-modal agents |
| Mastra | Mastra | TypeScript-first agents |
| Google ADK | Gemini-native agents |
How to Choose
Section titled “How to Choose”Building a coding agent?├── Want self-evolving + auto-optimization? → AdalFlow├── Need cloud sandbox execution? → OpenHands SDK├── Fixing GitHub issues autonomously? → SWE-agent├── Terminal pair programming? → Aider│├── Need general agent orchestration?│ ├── Complex graph workflows → LangGraph│ ├── OpenAI models only → OpenAI Agents SDK│ ├── Multi-agent teams → CrewAI│ └── Enterprise .NET → Microsoft Agent Framework│└── Lightweight / research → Smolagents or Pydantic AI