smolagents
Hugging FaceMinimal code-first agent framework from Hugging Face, whose CodeAgent writes actions as executable Python rather than JSON tool calls. The core is about a thousand lines. It runs actions in a sandbox, is model-agnostic across hosted and local providers, and imports tools over MCP and from LangChain.
Openness
5 high confidence- license
- Apache-2.0(OSI)
- source
- public(github.com/huggingface/smolagents)
- core features withheld
- no
Fully OSI-licensed (Apache-2.0), entire library public, no proprietary/managed core, top openness.
- https://github.com/huggingface/smolagents recorded 2026-08-13
Apache-2.0 license, full public source for the code-agent framework, 28.8k stars and 2.9k forks; no enterprise directory and no paid tier
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huggingface/smolagents/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-09-29
The repository LICENSE file is the full text of the "Apache License" "Version 2.0, January 2004", an OSI-approved license.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huggingface/smolagents/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-29
The README describes a public code-agent library whose "the main code in `agents.py` has <1,000 lines of code" and tells readers "to hack into the source code".
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huggingface/smolagents/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-29
Searched the README body for enterprise, license key, paid, premium and pricing: none; every feature listed, such as "sandboxed environments via" Docker, E2B or Modal, is part of the library itself.
Adoption
3 high confidenceAdoption is measured by PyPI downloads of smolagents, the channel through which it is mainly distributed, over the trailing month. That places it below the heavier, more established frameworks it competes with, though the package is the product itself rather than an SDK, so this count measures it directly.
- https://github.com/huggingface/smolagents recorded 2026-08-13
28.8k stars, 2.9k forks (corroborating, not the basis)
- https://pypistats.org/api/packages/smolagents/recent recorded 2026-08-13
653,459 downloads in the trailing 30 days for smolagents
- https://pypistats.org/packages/smolagents recorded 2026-08-13
the rendered pypistats page for the same package, kept as the original citation
Capability
3 medium confidenceSmolagents is strong on model-agnosticism, tool use and sandboxed code execution but deliberately small, with a thinner orchestration and evaluation surface than OpenHands. The only benchmark it publishes compares open models run as agents rather than the framework itself, so it is judged on features.
- https://github.com/huggingface/smolagents recorded 2026-08-13
code-action agents, sandboxed execution, MCP and LangChain tool import, multi-model support; no benchmark figure published
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huggingface/smolagents/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-29
The README lists "First-class support for Code Agents", sandboxed execution via "E2B" and "Modal" or Docker, tools from any "MCP server" and "LangChain", and "multi-agent hierarchies"; it gives no framework benchmark headline.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huggingface/smolagents/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-29
Searched for a framework-level headline benchmark: only a comparison of open models run as agents, "How strong are open models for agentic workflows?"
Verified 2026-09-24