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.

Shadow AISince 2026-05

Shadow is an intelligent, privacy-first desktop AI assistant for macOS engineered to seamlessly observe your workflow, capture meeting context, and execute action items without intruding as an awkward meeting bot. Instead of inviting a bot to your Zoom or Google Meet calls, Shadow records audio and visual context locally from system hardware. By combining low-latency on-device speech transcription with multimodal screen intelligence, Shadow turns unstructured work conversations into clean summary memos, follow-up email drafts, Jira tickets, and calendar invites with a single click.

Shadow is built with privacy at its core: raw audio buffers and screen snapshots are processed locally using optimized Apple Silicon neural engine kernels. Only structured text context is routed to high-parameter LLMs for reasoning when explicitly requested by the user. Users can create and customize 'Skills'—reusable prompt automation blueprints that trigger automated actions like emailing meeting summaries to attendees, updating Notion databases, or logging customer feedback into product roadmaps.