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smolagents

Small Apache-2.0 library for agents that act by writing code

80.5
Score in best AI agent frameworks and tooling
Visit huggingface.co Alternatives

Ranked 7 of 9 in best AI agent frameworks and tooling

A small Apache 2.0 library in which agents act by writing code, so the whole loop is easy to read. Its ecosystem is smaller, and code-running agents need careful sandboxing.

Best for Readable code agents on Hugging Face models

About smolagents

smolagents is a barebones library from Hugging Face for building AI agents. Its repository describes it as agents that think in code, meaning the model writes code as its action step instead of only calling predefined JSON tools. The project is licensed under Apache 2.0.

The README reports a comparison in which code agents work better than vanilla tool-calling agents, and it notes that security is a serious consideration when agents run code. Because the library is small, it suits developers who want to read the whole agent loop. It works naturally with Hugging Face models and the Hub, and it has a smaller ecosystem than LangChain.

Key features

  • Code agents
  • Small codebase
  • Apache 2.0
  • Hugging Face integration

Strengths

  • Small codebase under Apache 2.0
  • Agents act by writing code
  • Works with Hugging Face models and the Hub

Limits

  • Smaller ecosystem than LangChain
  • Code-running agents need careful sandboxing

Where smolagents ranks

Alternatives to smolagents

All 8 alternatives

Questions about smolagents

Is smolagents free?
smolagents can be used without paying: Free Apache-2.0 library from Hugging Face. Check the vendor’s pricing page for current limits.
Is smolagents open source?
Yes. smolagents publishes its source code under the Apache-2.0 license.
Which platforms does smolagents support?
smolagents is available on: Web.
What is smolagents best for?
Readable code agents on Hugging Face models. In our ranking of AI agent frameworks and tooling it is number 7 of 9 with a score of 80.5.
What are the best alternatives to smolagents?
The highest-ranked alternatives on listme.name are LangChain, LlamaIndex, Pydantic AI, Haystack.

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Ranked #7 of 9 AI agent frameworks and tooling on listme.name
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