agent-framework

Microsoft Agent Framework (MAF) is an open, multi-language framework for building production-grade AI agents and multi-agent workflows in Python and .NET, with a Go SDK in a separate repository. Microsoft positions it as the successor to AutoGen, which is now in maintenance mode, and it is built for teams taking agents from prototype to production.

It is a strong fit when you need orchestration beyond a single prompt: graph-based workflows with sequential, concurrent, handoff and group-collaboration patterns, checkpointing, streaming and human-in-the-loop control. It also offers middleware for request and response processing, built-in OpenTelemetry tracing, declarative agents defined in YAML, agent skills, an interactive DevUI for debugging, experimental "Labs" packages for benchmarking and reinforcement learning, and the option to host agents on Microsoft Foundry with a couple of lines of code. Multiple model providers are supported.

Getting started: Python users run `pip install agent-framework`; .NET users add the `Microsoft.Agents.AI` package (plus Foundry packages for the hosted quickstart). Teams on AutoGen should follow Microsoft's official migration guide.