agent-framework-core

What it is and what it does

Agent Framework Core is Microsoft's Python library for building and orchestrating AI agents powered by large language models. It provides abstractions for creating individual agents with custom instructions and tools, then composing them into multi-agent systems using patterns like sequential workflows, concurrent execution, group chat, and handoff protocols. The framework handles LLM communication, function calling, message routing, and telemetry.

You use it by instantiating agents with configuration, optionally attaching custom Python functions as tools, then either running agents directly or coordinating multiple agents through orchestration patterns. It supports both in-process and distributed execution, multimodal inputs (text and vision), and integrates with opentelemetry-api for observability. Core dependencies include msgspec, pydantic, typing-extensions, python-dotenv, and opentelemetry-api.

Use it for:

• Build a single agent with custom tools to answer questions and call functions on behalf of users.
• Orchestrate multiple agents in sequence to iteratively refine outputs based on feedback.
• Run multiple specialized agents concurrently to parallelize work on independent subtasks.
• Implement group chat where multiple agents collaborate and discuss to reach consensus.
• Deploy agents in distributed environments for scalable, fault-tolerant multi-agent applications.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Build, orchestrate, and deploy AI agents and multi-agent systems with support for multiple LLM providers, function calling, and orchestration patterns.

Yes. Active, well-maintained framework with strong community adoption (12803 stars, top 5000 PyPI packages). MIT license, low install friction, no known vulnerabilities, and comprehensive multi-agent orchestration capabilities. Install if you need to build or coordinate AI agents; skip if you only need direct LLM chat without agent abstractions.

Install

agent-framework-core on PyPI

pip install agent-framework-core

uv add agent-framework-core

poetry add agent-framework-core

Installing agent-framework-core

Before you install

Low friction installation with a pure-Python wheel. Active maintenance with recent release and strong community signal (12803 stars). Supports Python 3.10 through 3.14.

License in practice

MIT license (permissive) allows unrestricted use, modification, and distribution in commercial and private projects with minimal obligations.

Quickstart

pip install agent-framework-core

import asyncio
from agent_framework_core import Agent

agent = Agent(
    instructions="You are a helpful assistant."
)
result = asyncio.run(agent.run("Hello"))
print(result)

Requires Python 3.10+. Requires LLM provider credentials (e.g., OPENAI_API_KEY) set via environment variables or configuration.

Verify before relying

• Which LLM providers (OpenAI, Foundry, Anthropic) are included in core versus optional integration packages
• Performance characteristics and latency overhead of the orchestration layer
• Whether distributed execution requires additional infrastructure or dependencies beyond the core package

Package facts

Evidence: agent_framework_core-1.14.0-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Application Frameworks packages

Further reading