AutoGen began as a Microsoft Research framework for multi-agent conversations and role-playing agent patterns. As of 2026 it is maintenance-mode. Microsoft consolidated AutoGen and Semantic Kernel into the Microsoft Agent Framework, which reached 1.0 in April 2026. AutoGen continues to receive critical bug and security fixes but not significant new features, and new projects are pointed at the Microsoft Agent Framework instead. The relevant correction for anyone surveying the agent layer is that AutoGen is no longer the current Microsoft agent framework, and neither is Semantic Kernel; both fed into one successor. For the build-it-yourself comparison, see the Microsoft Agent Framework entry rather than this one.
The Stack · Agents · Open source
AutoGen
Microsoft's multi-agent conversation framework, now maintenance-mode; consolidated with Semantic Kernel into the Microsoft Agent Framework (1.0 GA April 2026).
Sources
- AutoGen repository https://github.com/microsoft/autogen
- AutoGen LICENSE-CODE (MIT) https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/autogen/main/LICENSE-CODE
- Introducing Microsoft Agent Framework (consolidation, 2025-10-01) https://devblogs.microsoft.com/foundry/introducing-microsoft-agent-framework-the-open-source-engine-for-agentic-ai-apps/
- Semantic Kernel and Microsoft Agent Framework (relationship) https://devblogs.microsoft.com/semantic-kernel/semantic-kernel-and-microsoft-agent-framework/
Want a follow-up? Ask the chat about AutoGen in context. It will compare to siblings at the same layer and ground every claim in the wiki.
Other projects at the Agents layer
19 siblings · ordered open first
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- Cline Open source
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- LlamaIndex Open source
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- OpenAI Agents SDK Open source
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- Claude Agent SDK Open source
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- Google ADK (Agent Development Kit) Open source
Google's open agent framework; Apache-2.0, multi-language (Python, Java, Go, TypeScript, Kotlin), Gemini-optimized but model-agnostic, native bidirectional MCP. 2.0 GA May 2026.
- Vercel AI SDK Open source
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- Strands Agents Open source
AWS's open agent SDK; Apache-2.0, Python (TypeScript in preview), Bedrock-default but model-agnostic, native MCP, workflow/graph/swarm multi-agent. 1.0 GA July 2025.
- Microsoft Agent Framework Open source
Microsoft's open agent framework consolidating AutoGen and Semantic Kernel; MIT, Python and .NET, model-agnostic via connectors, native MCP and A2A, graph-based orchestration. 1.0 GA April 2026.
- Pydantic AI Open source
Pydantic's MIT agent framework; Python, model-agnostic, type-safe through Pydantic models, native MCP, A2A plus graph multi-agent. 1.0 released September 2025.
- CrewAI Open source
Independent MIT agent framework; Python, model-agnostic via LiteLLM, role-based "crews" for multi-agent work, MCP via the crewai-tools adapter. 1.0 GA October 2025.
- Mastra Open source
Independent TypeScript agent framework from the Gatsby team; Apache-2.0 core (separate enterprise license for ee/ directories), built on the Vercel AI SDK, native MCP, supervisor/sub-agents. 1.0 released January 2026.
- Claude Code (Anthropic) Proprietary
Anthropic's first-party CLI coding agent; closed-source; subscription model; the dominant closed coding agent in 2026.
- Cursor Proprietary
Closed VS-Code-fork IDE with integrated agentic features; strong developer adoption.
- Devin (Cognition Labs) Proprietary
Cognition's closed autonomous-software-engineer agent; was first to publicize SWE-bench scores.