Smolagents

SmolagentsSince 2026-01

Smolagents is an ultra-lightweight, code-first Python framework created by Hugging Face for building, orchestrating, and executing autonomous AI agents in minimal lines of code. Rejecting the bloated, multi-layered abstractions of legacy agent libraries, Smolagents emphasizes 'Code Agents'—agents that express their reasoning and tool actions directly in executable Python code rather than rigid JSON string payloads. By letting LLMs write executable Python logic, Smolagents achieves vastly superior composability for data manipulation, mathematical operations, and complex loops while cutting prompt token overhead by up to 30%.

Smolagents natively supports both local open-source models (via Hugging Face Transformers and Ollama) and commercial frontier models (via LiteLLM, OpenAI, and Anthropic APIs). It includes pre-built modules for secure sandboxed Python execution, multi-modal web browsing agents with visual comprehension, and seamless sharing of agent tools directly on the Hugging Face Hub. The framework is fully modality-agnostic, supporting text, speech, vision, and custom API tools with zero vendor lock-in.

AgnoSince 2025-10

Agno (formerly Phidata) is a lightweight, ultra-fast Python framework engineered for building production-grade autonomous multi-agent systems with native memory, knowledge retrieval, and multimodal reasoning capabilities. It is designed to replace bloated agent frameworks with a pure, pythonic developer experience. Agno agents operate up to 10x faster than legacy orchestration libraries by eliminating unnecessary abstractions. With built-in support for vector databases (PgVector, Qdrant, Pinecone), structured output schemas, and agent-to-agent delegating protocols, developers can build complex autonomous assistants with under 20 lines of clean code.

The framework includes first-class multimodal tools allowing agents to analyze images, process video streams, execute code in secure sandboxes, and query SQL databases. Agno agents natively persist session state and user memory in PostgreSQL, making stateful conversations effortless across web sessions. Agno is fully open-source with extensive documentation, offering enterprise-ready middleware for authentication, telemetry, and rate limiting.