AutoGen
Microsoft's open-source framework for multi-agent AI applications. It is now in maintenance mode, succeeded by Microsoft Agent Framework (1.0 in April 2026).
AutoGen is an open-source framework from Microsoft for building multi-agent AI applications, whose agents can act autonomously or work alongside people.
Status as of September 26, 2026. AutoGen is in maintenance mode. Its README says it will receive no new features or enhancements and is community managed, and it directs new users to Microsoft Agent Framework, with a migration guide for existing users. The last AutoGen Python release on GitHub is python-v0.7.5, from September 30, 2025.
The successor. Microsoft Agent Framework is built by the same teams as AutoGen and Semantic Kernel, and its documentation describes it as the direct successor to both. It combines AutoGen’s simple abstractions for single-agent and multi-agent patterns with Semantic Kernel’s session-based state, type safety, middleware and telemetry, and adds graph-based workflows with explicit execution paths. The first public previews appeared on GitHub on October 1, 2025, and 1.0 was released for Python and .NET on April 2, 2026. The latest releases at the time of writing are Python 1.19.0 and .NET 1.22.0, both from September 18, 2026. A Go version is in public preview.
Interoperability. Microsoft Agent Framework agents can call MCP servers as tools. Its documentation covers hosting agents over A2A in .NET, Python and Go, and calling remote A2A agents, and it instruments agents with OpenTelemetry following the GenAI semantic conventions.
A separate project. AG2, maintained in the ag2ai organization on GitHub, is a different project. Its README describes its “AG2 Classic” line as the original AutoGen-derived framework, using the autogen import namespace. It is not Microsoft’s AutoGen repository or Microsoft Agent Framework.
Neighbouring terms. An agent framework is the general category. AutoGen’s conversational agents are one way to build a multi-agent system.
Sources
- AutoGen README on GitHub (maintenance mode notice) (accessed )
- AutoGen releases on GitHub (accessed )
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Agent Framework overview (accessed )
- Microsoft Agent Framework releases on GitHub (accessed )
- Microsoft Learn: Host agents with A2A (Microsoft Agent Framework) (accessed )
- Microsoft Learn: Migration guide from AutoGen to Microsoft Agent Framework (accessed )
- Microsoft Learn: Agent observability (Microsoft Agent Framework) (accessed )
- AG2 README on GitHub (accessed )