Agent Frameworks and Orchestration Libraries
Frameworks can provide tool schemas, agent loops, state, streaming, retrieval adapters, tracing, and human approval patterns. Examples include provider-specific agent SDKs and cross-provider libraries. Their APIs and supported features change quickly, so choose versions intentionally and read official docs for current patterns.
Do not adopt a framework just because a demo is short. Verify how it handles tool authorization, retries, cancellation, persistence, streaming, tracing, and data retention. Understand the underlying loop well enough to debug it, and keep a small direct-API prototype as a baseline when abstraction overhead becomes hard to diagnose.
Framework selection checklist
Compare:
- Provider support and feature parity
- Streaming and structured output
- Tool validation and approvals
- Durable state and retries
- Tracing, evaluations, and debugging
- Runtime compatibility and maintenance💡 A checklist is more useful than choosing based on a single benchmark or marketing claim. Re-evaluate the choice when requirements change.
Key Takeaways
- Learn the underlying model/tool loop.
- Verify framework behavior for failures and side effects.
- Keep your domain policy independent of framework internals.
Knowledge Check
What should be checked before adopting an agent framework for production?