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WhichAgent

Strands Agents

Agent framework by Amazon Web Services (AWS)

ActiveOpen source · Apache-2.0Verified Oct 22, 2026
Website Docs Source

AWS's open-source, model-driven SDK for building AI agents in Python and TypeScript, where the model plans and calls tools in a built-in agent loop; it now also ships a pre-assembled 'Strands harness' agent.

Key facts

Type
Agent framework · Library
Pricing
Free
Free tier
Free and open source (Apache-2.0). You pay only for the models you call and any infrastructure you deploy to.
License
Apache-2.0
Models
Amazon Bedrock, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Mistral, Amazon SageMaker, Writer, Llama API, Vercel AI Gateway, Local models via Ollama and llama.cpp, 100+ via LiteLLM, Custom providers
Languages
Python, TypeScript
Platforms
macOS, Windows, Linux
Bring your own API key
Yes
Local models
Yes
MCP support
Yes
Self-hostable
Yes
GitHub stars
8,911
Last commit
Oct 21, 2026

Best for

  • Teams building agents on AWS and Amazon Bedrock
  • Developers who want a lightweight agent loop instead of a graph DSL
  • Projects that need the same agent framework in Python and TypeScript

Pros

  • Minimal code to get a tool-using agent running
  • Model-agnostic, with first-class Bedrock, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Gemini support
  • Built-in MCP, streaming, multi-agent patterns, hooks, guardrails, and built-in tracing
  • Runs in your own process with no hosted control plane

Cons

  • Default configuration and docs lean toward Amazon Bedrock
  • TypeScript SDK is newer and lags the Python SDK in version history
  • Recent repo and package reorganization (harness-sdk monorepo, new harness packages) means older links and tutorials may be outdated
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