Smolagents — Lightweight AI Agent Framework

Key Concept: Code Agents

Instead of outputting JSON tool calls, smolagents agents write Python code:

from smolagents import CodeAgent, tool, HfApiModel

@tool
def get_weather(city: str) -> str:
    """Get current weather for a city."""
    return f"Sunny, 22C in {city}"

agent = CodeAgent(tools=[get_weather], model=HfApiModel())
agent.run("What's the weather in Tokyo?")

The agent writes: result = get_weather("Tokyo") and executes it.

Why Code Agents?

• More expressive — loops, conditionals, variables
• Composable — chain tool calls naturally
• Debuggable — read the generated code
• Efficient — fewer LLM calls than ReAct