Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 shipped on April 3, 2026 — the GA merger of AutoGen and Semantic Kernel. It supports checkpointing, pause/resume, human-in-the-loop approvals, and all major orchestration patterns (sequential, concurrent, handoff, group chat, Magentic-One) for both .NET and Python. The GA removes the main reason to hold back from Trial.
Why It Moved to Trial
The April 3 1.0 release delivered:
- Stable, versioned APIs — long-term support commitment, no further breaking changes in the 1.x line
- Checkpointing + pause/resume — long-running workflows survive failures and disconnections
- Process Framework (preview, GA targeting Q2 2026) — deterministic business workflow orchestration on top of the agent layer
- Native A2A and MCP support — plugs into the cross-vendor protocol stack
The prior blocker — RC status with slipping GA timeline — is resolved. The remaining limitation is that agent_framework.orchestrations (some advanced orchestration packages) stay in preview even with the 1.0 core GA, and the community ecosystem is still thinner than LangGraph/CrewAI.
Buy vs Build
This is a build framework with a strong buy story if your organisation is on Azure. The managed hosting, enterprise SLAs, and Azure integrations are the "buy" angle — you're buying reliability and compliance, not avoiding code.
AutoGen brought: event-driven multi-agent orchestration, async execution, human-in-the-loop patterns, production use at Novo Nordisk and other enterprises
Semantic Kernel brought: production-grade LLM SDK, C#/Python/Java support, deep Azure OpenAI integration, plugin architecture
Combined, you get:
- Multi-language support (C#, Python, Java) — uniquely valuable for heterogeneous enterprise stacks
- Native Azure integration (Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, Azure Functions)
- Production SLAs with Microsoft support
- Compliance features important in regulated industries
When to Choose It
- Your engineering team writes C# or .NET
- You're committed to Azure infrastructure
- You need Microsoft support SLAs
- You're in a regulated industry where Microsoft's compliance certifications matter (HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001)
- You want checkpointing and pause/resume without building it yourself (cf. LangGraph, which has this too)
When to Choose Something Else
- Python-only stack: LangGraph or CrewAI have more ecosystem momentum and community Q&A coverage
- Not on Azure: The Azure integration is the key value prop; outside Azure, you lose most of the "buy" benefits
- Need model-agnostic + Claude: MAF works with any model, but its deep integrations favor Azure OpenAI
Key Characteristics
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.0 GA (April 3, 2026) |
| License | MIT |
| Language | C#, Python, Java |
| Provider | Microsoft |
| Checkpointing | Yes — built-in pause/resume |
| A2A / MCP | Native support |
| GitHub | microsoft/agent-framework |
| Website | aka.ms/AgentFramework/Docs |