{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "boxlang-ai", "name": "BoxLang AI", "vendor": "Ortus Solutions", "vendorUrl": "https://ai.boxlang.io", "kind": "framework", "category": "frameworks", "summary": "BoxLang AI (bx-ai) is Ortus Solutions' Apache-2.0 agent framework for BoxLang on the JVM, with agents, tools, memory, RAG, human approval, and an MCP client and server across more than 15 model providers.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/boxlang-ai", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/boxlang-ai.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/boxlang-ai.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/boxlang-ai.json", "dns": "boxlang-ai.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/ortus-boxlang/bx-ai", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "forgebox", "name": "bx-ai" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "A library with no account of its own. Model providers need their own keys, set in boxlang.json or read from each provider's environment variable (OPENAI_API_KEY, CLAUDE_API_KEY and so on). Ollama, Docker Model Runner and the mock provider need no key.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under Apache-2.0. Model calls are billed by the provider. Ortus sells optional BoxLang runtime plans from $749 a year (Starter, one server) to $4,999 a node a year (BoxLang++), which the readme says add more vector memories and an Agent Dashboard.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "library", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "Local library. No x402, MPP or L402 in the repository, the docs or the plans page, checked 1 November 2026.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-01" }, "docsUrl": "https://ai.ortusbooks.com", "llmsTxt": "https://ai.ortusbooks.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.framework", "agent.multi-agent", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "framework", "boxlang", "jvm", "open-source", "apache-2.0", "mcp", "llms-txt", "free" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-20", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 65.8, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 403, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 14, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 74, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 50, "reliability": 66, "schema": 71, "security": 71, "transparency": 70 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-01" }, "negative": -3, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-20. -3, a breaking change in a minor release without advance notice. 3.6.0 renamed the `MCPClient` class to `MCPHttpClient` with no alias, so code that created the class directly must move to `MCP( url )`. The changelog's Migration section says so on release day. 3.5.0 (11 September) likewise raised the minimum BoxLang runtime from 1.8.0 to 1.14.0. One term at the floor, as google-adk's minor-release breaking changes took. https://github.com/ortus-boxlang/bx-ai/blob/main/changelog.md" ], "verdict": "A JVM agent framework with human approval, guardrail middleware and an MCP client over HTTP and stdio, all enforced in code, with three releases in the 90 days to 1 November 2026. It runs only on BoxLang, the stronger guards are opt-in, and minor releases have renamed public classes without a deprecation period.", "bestFor": "Teams already running BoxLang or modernising CFML on the JVM who want agents, RAG and MCP with approval and guardrails in the same language", "strengths": [ "Human approval enforced in code, with suspended runs that resume without replaying the model call, five approval policies and durable grants", "Untrusted context is fenced and inbound text Unicode-normalised by default, with opt-in sanitiser, LLM-judge and output-redaction middleware", "stdio MCP servers start without a shell, with an allowedCommands setting, per-server tool filters and prefixes, and restart limits", "Three releases in the 90 days to 1 November 2026 (3.4.0, 3.5.0, 3.6.0), with a Keep a Changelog file and migration notes", "llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page, plus about 100 runnable example scripts in the repository" ], "weaknesses": [ "Runs only on BoxLang, a JVM language, so it suits teams already on BoxLang or CFML rather than Python or TypeScript stacks", "Minor releases carry breaking changes. 3.6.0 renamed MCPClient to MCPHttpClient with no alias, noted on release day", "The stdio command allow-list, filesystem tool paths and MCP server authentication are all open by default", "Docs lag the code. On 1 November the 3.6.0 release page still read unreleased and didn't mention the stdio MCP client", "No OpenTelemetry export found. Tracing is through BoxLang interception points, logging and flight-recorder middleware" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `mcp.stdio.allowedCommands` to the executables you need. The default empty list lets any command start as a stdio MCP server.", "Pass `allowedPaths` when you create FileSystemTools. With none, its tools can read, write and delete anywhere the JVM user can.", "Attach HumanInTheLoopMiddleware with a checkpointer for tools that write or spend. Approval is opt-in.", "Create MCP clients with `MCP()` rather than the class, since 3.6.0 renamed MCPClient to MCPHttpClient without an alias.", "Use the `mock` provider to test agent wiring and guardrails with no API key or network." ], "metrics": { "kind": "library", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 65.8 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 74, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 50, "reliability": 66, "schema": 71, "security": 71, "transparency": 65 }, "provenanceScore": 74, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-01", "maintenance": "2026-11-01", "payments": "2026-11-01", "reliability": "2026-11-01", "schema": "2026-11-01", "security": "2026-11-01", "transparency": "2026-11-01" }, "last": "2026-11-01", "oldest": "2026-11-01", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "install-bx-module bx-ai # in a web app: box install bx-ai" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.framework", "tool": "https://letme.dev/boxlang-ai" }, "sameCompany": [ "bx-playwright" ], "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Ortus Solutions, Corp.", "domain": "ortussolutions.com", "domainRegistered": "2006-04-12", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://github.com/ortus-boxlang/bx-ai/blob/main/src/main/resources/LICENSE", "privacy": "https://www.ortussolutions.com/about-us/ortus-privacy-policy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/ortus-boxlang/bx-ai/blob/main/changelog.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-01", "notes": [ "The readme names Ortus Solutions, Corp as copyright holder, and box.json names Ortus Solutions as author.", "domainRegistered is from Verisign's RDAP record for ortussolutions.com. rdap.org has no record for boxlang.io, so the product domain's date wasn't read.", "security.txt answers 410 on www.ortussolutions.com and boxlang.io. CONTRIBUTING.md asks for vulnerability reports to security@ortussolutions.com.", "The Apache 2.0 licence stands in for terms. The privacy policy covers Ortus's website and customers, not the module.", "Local software, so there is no endpoint or status page." ], "score": 74 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/boxlang-ai.json", "live": { "slug": "boxlang-ai", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "ortus-boxlang/bx-ai", "version": "v3.7.0", "released": "2026-11-04", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:11:59.483535804Z" } ], "githubStars": 20, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://ortussolutions.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:59:35.513461646Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://ai.ortusbooks.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:31:44.174922688Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ortus-boxlang/bx-ai/main/changelog.md", "kind": "changelog", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:22:35.612698873Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-04T08:34:53.336221384Z", "fingerprint": "f8be668a6e44" }, { "url": "https://www.ortussolutions.com/about-us/ortus-privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:32:35.59600414Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "b4280b39a3d6" }, { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ortus-boxlang/bx-ai/main/src/main/resources/LICENSE", "kind": "terms", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:22:37.201712876Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "839fbbcddc72" } ], "github": { "repo": "ortus-boxlang/bx-ai", "checkedAt": "2026-11-02T08:22:41.470134886Z", "stars": 19, "archived": false, "issuesEnabled": true, "pushedAt": "2026-11-01T17:24:53Z", "openIssues": 10, "openPRs": 8, "issuesOpened90d": 9, "issuesClosed90d": 9, "prsMerged90d": 65, "ci": { "branch": "development", "runs": 50, "success": 9, "failure": 28, "other": 13, "latest": "failure", "latestAt": "2026-11-01T17:37:12Z" }, "replies": { "sampled": 25, "unanswered": 7, "medianDays": 0.8 } }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T15:59:35.513461646Z" } }, "answer": "BoxLang AI scores 65.8 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "smolagents", "name": "smolagents", "vendor": "Hugging Face", "vendorUrl": "https://github.com/huggingface/smolagents", "kind": "framework", "category": "frameworks", "summary": "smolagents is Hugging Face's small Python library for agents that write and run Python code (CodeAgent) or call tools as JSON (ToolCallingAgent), with MCP tools, any model provider and sandboxed execution through E2B, Docker, Modal or Blaxel.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smolagents", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smolagents.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smolagents.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/smolagents.json", "dns": "smolagents.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/huggingface/smolagents", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "smolagents" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "A library with no credentials of its own. The default InferenceClientModel uses a Hugging Face token; other providers and remote sandboxes take their own keys.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and open source under Apache-2.0. You pay for model calls and for any remote sandbox (E2B, Modal, Blaxel) you use.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "library", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the repository (checked 2026-11-06).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 30234, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": 171063, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://huggingface.co/docs/smolagents/index", "llmsTxt": "https://huggingface.co/docs/smolagents/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.framework", "agent.mcp-client", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "framework", "python", "open-source", "llms-txt", "mcp", "code-agent", "sandbox" ], "lastRelease": "2026-05-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 58.7, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 739, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1510, "categoryRank": 18, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 34, "payments": 60, "reliability": 64, "schema": 81, "security": 66, "transparency": 65 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": -6, "negativeNotes": [ "2025-12-23 to 2026-03-27. GHSA-q9r5-6hrr-9ph7 (CVE-2025-14931, critical, from the Zero Day Initiative) reports remote code execution through pickle deserialisation in the remote Python executor; the fix for remote executors merged on 15 February 2026, about eight weeks after publication. CVE-2026-2654 (SSRF, 1.24.0) and CVE-2026-4963 (code injection in LocalPythonExecutor, an incomplete earlier fix) are rated low, and both records say the vendor did not respond. Fixed or low, under 12 months old, 6 points. https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-q9r5-6hrr-9ph7" ], "verdict": "A compact Python library for code-writing and tool-calling agents, with MCP tools, any model provider and remote sandboxes through E2B, Docker, Modal or Blaxel. The newest release is 1.26.0 of 29 May 2026, a critical remote-executor RCE took about eight weeks to fix, and the local executor isn't a security boundary.", "bestFor": "Small Python projects and research that want code-writing agents with minimal abstraction.", "strengths": [ "CodeAgent and ToolCallingAgent in a small, readable codebase", "MCP tools from any server through MCPClient", "Remote execution through E2B, Docker, Modal or Blaxel, with a guide on when it's needed", "No telemetry found in the source", "llms.txt and Markdown docs on huggingface.co" ], "weaknesses": [ "No release since 1.26.0 on 29 May 2026, and few commits to main since August", "The local Python executor isn't a security boundary, per its own guide", "A critical RCE in the remote executor (published December 2025) was fixed in February 2026", "No human approval hook, retry or resume built in", "Breaking removals such as WasmExecutor shipped in minor releases" ], "agentNotes": [ "Run CodeAgent with `executor_type` set to e2b, docker, modal or blaxel whenever the model or its inputs aren't trusted", "Use smolagents 1.24.0 or later to get the remote-executor deserialisation fix", "Set max_steps and final_answer_checks so a run stops on its own", "Pass structured_output explicitly to MCPClient to avoid the default-change warning", "Pin the version, since minor releases have removed APIs" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 58.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 68, "maintenance": 34, "payments": 60, "reliability": 64, "schema": 81, "security": 66, "transparency": 67 }, "provenanceScore": 62, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install smolagents # MCP: pip install 'smolagents[mcp]'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.framework", "tool": "https://letme.dev/smolagents" }, "sameCompany": [ "hugging-face-inference-providers", "hugging-face-inference-endpoints", "carbon-x", "smollm3-3b" ], "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "domain": "huggingface.co", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://huggingface.co/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://huggingface.co/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/huggingface/smolagents/releases", "securityTxt": "unknown", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "SECURITY.md takes reports through GitHub private vulnerability reporting or security@huggingface.co, with no bounty.", "huggingface.co/robots.txt allows all crawlers.", "The terms and privacy links are Hugging Face's site-wide documents; the library itself collects nothing." ], "score": 62 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smolagents.json", "live": { "slug": "smolagents", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "huggingface/smolagents", "version": "v1.26.0", "released": "2026-05-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:06:55.865567193Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "smolagents", "version": "1.26.0", "released": "2026-05-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-07T00:06:55.546186347Z" } ], "githubStars": 30238, "pypiWeekly": 171063, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2030-07-01T08:42:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:00.493446773Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/smolagents/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:33:57.593545427Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:00.493446773Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 49, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "boxlang-ai", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "3.6.0 on 2026-10-20 (30). Three releases in the 90 days to 1 November, 3.4.0 on 1 September, 3.5.0 on 11 September and 3.6.0 on 20 October (20). 79 commits on the development branch in those 90 days from Luis Majano, Doug Cain, Copilot and dependency bots, with pull requests up to #326 merged on 1 November. Issue reply times couldn't be read (10 of 25). The ForgeBox package is current at 3.6.0 (15). Dependabot for Gradle monthly and Actions quarterly, tests on pull requests and development, and a format check (8 of 10). 83 in all.", "b": "v1.26.0 on 29 May 2026, 161 days before this check (10). No release in the 90 days to 6 November (0). 416 open issues and 1,045 open issues and pull requests on 6 November, with 144 issues opened in the 90 days to 3 November. Of the 50 newest, 26 had a comment and 1 was closed. Two 2026 CVE records say the vendor didn't respond to the reporter, and seven commits reached main from 8 August to 6 November (6). Python only, and the package is the current one (10). CI with actions pinned to commit SHAs and Dependabot for actions (8). 10+0+6+10+8 = 34." }, "scores": { "a": 83, "b": 34 } }, { "by": 10, "category": "schema", "leads": "smolagents", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "Framework reading. A reference page for each built-in function with its arguments, and tool schemas generated from typed function arguments with required fields since 3.3.1. BoxLang is dynamically typed and no published API reference was found, though the repository builds DocBox API docs (15 of 25). llms.txt with about 150 entries and a Markdown copy of every page (10). The FAQ says when to use aiChat() or aiAgent() and the security guide says which guards to use when, though some FAQ links still say coming soon for pages that exist (14 of 20). Tool arguments are typed with required lists, and stdio options a server doesn't have throw InvalidArgument (11 of 15). About 100 example scripts in the repository and a gallery on ai.boxlang.io, but the production guide catches RateLimitException, TimeoutException and AuthenticationException, which the module's source never throws, and there is no exception reference (9 of 15). Keep a Changelog and a release-history page per version, but the 3.6.0 page still read unreleased on 1 November and two old versions appear twice in the changelog (12 of 15). 71 in all.", "b": "Framework reading. A typed Python API with reference pages for agents, models, tools and executors (22). llms.txt and Markdown pages on huggingface.co (10). The docs say when to use CodeAgent or ToolCallingAgent and when a sandbox is needed (17). Tools declare typed inputs in a schema dictionary or from a decorated function (12). Many runnable examples; error classes exist but aren't catalogued (10). Versions tagged with release notes, no changelog file (10). 22+10+17+12+10+10 = 81." }, "scores": { "a": 71, "b": 81 } }, { "by": 10, "category": "payments", "leads": "smolagents", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "Self-hosted rule, scored on the paid option. No payment protocol (0). BoxLang runtime plans are public without a login, Starter $749 a year and BoxLang+ and BoxLang++ from $1,999 to $4,999 a server or node a year, plan pricing rather than per unit (10). The Apache-2.0 module installs with no card (20) and no account or sign-up (20). 50 in all.", "b": "Self-hosted rule. Free Apache-2.0 package with nothing to buy from the project (20 + 20 + 20). No payment protocol (0). 0+20+20+20 = 60." }, "scores": { "a": 50, "b": 60 } }, { "by": 6, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "boxlang-ai", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "Framework reading, scored on what a tool-calling agent with MCP takes. An agent with an MCP server is one `aiAgent()` call with `mcpServers`, and `toolFilter` and `prefix` limit what each server adds. Skills can load lazily, but `autoLoadSkills` is on by default and injects every SKILL.md under /.agents/skills into every agent (20 of 25). MaxToolCallsMiddleware caps tool calls, window and summary memory bound history by messages or tokens, `withMaxResponseBytes` caps MCP answers and `listTools( cursor )` pages tools (17 of 20). Named exceptions (ProviderError, UnsupportedCapability, InvalidArgument, MCPCommandRefused, BXAI.SecurityViolation) but no reference page, and the changelog says a timed-out call still surfaces as a JSON parse error (12 of 20). RetryMiddleware with exponential backoff, approval resumes that don't replay the model call or rerun executed tools, and a stdio client that never repeats an in-flight call. MCP tool annotations such as readOnlyHint aren't read (15 of 20). An agent needs a name and works with defaults, and a mock provider runs with no key, but it is one language (10 of 15). 74 in all.", "b": "Framework reading. MCPClient loads an MCP server's tools in a few lines (20). max_steps, planning intervals and final_answer_checks bound a run (16). Errors from tools and code go back to the model as observations (14). No built-in retry, idempotency or resume beyond replaying memory (8). Few required parameters and many providers, Python only, and the default model needs a Hugging Face token (10). 20+16+14+8+10 = 68." }, "scores": { "a": 74, "b": 68 } }, { "by": 5, "category": "security", "leads": "boxlang-ai", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Framework reading. 30 for what leaves the machine and credentials, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt injection, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. No telemetry in the module's source, requests go only to configured providers, keys come from settings or environment variables, and request logging is off by default. 3.4.0 fixed a Gemini key leaking into logs through the request URL (27 of 30). Approval is enforced in code by HumanInTheLoopMiddleware with five policies, GuardrailMiddleware blocks tools by name and argument pattern, and stdio commands never use a shell. All of it is opt-in. `allowedCommands` allows any executable by default, FileSystemTools allows any path without `allowedPaths`, and the MCP server has no authentication unless configured (12 of 20). Unicode hygiene and fencing of `${context}` are on by default, with opt-in input sanitiser, LLM judge and output guard. Streaming guards detect after the fact, which the changelog says (14 of 15). About 70 interception points, LoggingMiddleware, FlightRecorderMiddleware and MCP server statistics, with no OpenTelemetry export (11 of 15). CONTRIBUTING.md asks for reports to security@ortussolutions.com and the Slack #security channel. No security.txt (410), no bounty, and no published advisory found, while 3.6.0 lists a SQL injection fix in MySQL vector memory under Fixed (7 of 20). 71 in all.", "b": "Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing). No telemetry found in the source (25). No human approval hook beyond step callbacks; the local executor restricts imports but the guide says it isn't a security tool, and isolation needs a remote executor (10). The secure execution guide covers LLM-generated code risks, without prompt-injection guidance for tool output (7). OpenTelemetry tracing through OpenInference and run inspection (12). SECURITY.md with private reporting and CVE credit, and the remote-executor RCE was fixed in public, but two 2026 CVE records say the vendor didn't respond (12). 25+10+7+12+12 = 66." }, "scores": { "a": 71, "b": 66 } }, { "by": 5, "category": "transparency", "leads": "boxlang-ai", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "Apache-2.0, OSI approved, though the licence file sits in src/main/resources rather than the repository root (30). The FAQ says prompts and history go to the chosen cloud provider and that Ollama keeps data local, and we found no telemetry in the source, but there's no statement for the module of what, if anything, Ortus receives. Ortus's privacy policy covers its website and customers and says data is collected when you use its products without naming which (15 of 30). Migration notes are dated in the changelog, and default models were moved off a Groq model on its removal date, but there's no written deprecation policy or support window (10 of 20). No telemetry statement either way in the docs (10 of 20). 65 in all.", "b": "Apache-2.0 (30). The library stores nothing itself; the default model sends prompts to Hugging Face's inference providers, which the docs show (20). Breaking removals such as WasmExecutor shipped in minor releases, without a written deprecation policy (5). No telemetry, though no page states it (12). 30+20+5+12 = 67." }, "scores": { "a": 70, "b": 65 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Agent framework", "b": "Agent framework", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Ortus Solutions", "b": "Hugging Face", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0", "b": "Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-20", "b": "2026-05-29", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "2022-09-15", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "2023-03-28", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "30k stars, 171k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "BoxLang AI scores 65.8 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, BoxLang AI or smolagents?" }, { "answer": "Yes. BoxLang AI is open source (Apache-2.0). smolagents is open source (Apache-2.0).", "question": "Are BoxLang AI and smolagents open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 74 against 68", "Security \u0026 auth, 71 against 66", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 34", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 70 against 65" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Teams already running BoxLang or modernising CFML on the JVM who want agents, RAG and MCP with approval and guardrails in the same language", "slug": "boxlang-ai", "watchFor": "Runs only on BoxLang, a JVM language, so it suits teams already on BoxLang or CFML rather than Python or TypeScript stacks" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 81 against 71", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 50" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Small Python projects and research that want code-writing agents with minimal abstraction.", "slug": "smolagents", "watchFor": "No release since 1.26.0 on 29 May 2026, and few commits to main since August" } ], "history": null, "job": { "capability": "agent.framework", "name": "Agent frameworks" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-boxlang-ai.json", "title": "AgentOS vs BoxLang AI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-boxlang-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "AgentOS vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-boxlang-ai.json", "title": "Agno vs BoxLang AI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-boxlang-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "Agno vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-claude-agent-sdk.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Claude Agent SDK", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-claude-agent-sdk" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-crewai.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs CrewAI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-crewai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Cursor Agent SDK", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-cursor-agent-sdk" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-docker-agent.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Docker Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-docker-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-google-adk.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Agent Development Kit (ADK)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-google-adk" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-guilds-run.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs guilds.run", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-guilds-run" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-langgraph.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs LangGraph", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-langgraph" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-llamaindex.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs LlamaIndex Framework", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-llamaindex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-mastra.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Mastra", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-mastra" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Microsoft Agent Framework", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-microsoft-agent-framework" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-openai-agents-sdk.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs OpenAI Agents SDK", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-openai-agents-sdk" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-pydantic-ai.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Pydantic AI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-pydantic-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-strands-agents.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs Strands Agents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-strands-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-tradingagents.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs TradingAgents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-tradingagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.json", "title": "BoxLang AI vs AI SDK", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-vercel-ai-sdk" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "Claude Agent SDK vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "CrewAI vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-agent-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "Docker Agent vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-agent-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-adk-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs smolagents", "url": 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"https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-agent-framework-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-sdk-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "OpenAI Agents SDK vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-sdk-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pydantic-ai-vs-smolagents.json", "title": "Pydantic AI vs smolagents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pydantic-ai-vs-smolagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-strands-agents.json", "title": "smolagents vs Strands Agents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-strands-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-tradingagents.json", "title": "smolagents vs TradingAgents", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-tradingagents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.json", "title": "smolagents vs AI SDK", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-vercel-ai-sdk" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "boxlang-ai": 66, "by": 2, "edge": "boxlang-ai", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "smolagents": 64, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "boxlang-ai": 71, "by": 10, "edge": "smolagents", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "smolagents": 81, "weight": 13 }, { "boxlang-ai": 74, "by": 6, "edge": "boxlang-ai", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "smolagents": 68, "weight": 13 }, { "boxlang-ai": 71, "by": 5, "edge": "boxlang-ai", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "smolagents": 66, "weight": 14 }, { "boxlang-ai": 50, "by": 10, "edge": "smolagents", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "smolagents": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "boxlang-ai": 83, "by": 49, "edge": "boxlang-ai", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "smolagents": 34, "weight": 7 }, { "boxlang-ai": 70, "by": 5, "edge": "boxlang-ai", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "smolagents": 65, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "BoxLang AI scores 65.8 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do agent frameworks.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "boxlang-ai": "A JVM agent framework with human approval, guardrail middleware and an MCP client over HTTP and stdio, all enforced in code, with three releases in the 90 days to 1 November 2026. It runs only on BoxLang, the stronger guards are opt-in, and minor releases have renamed public classes without a deprecation period.", "smolagents": "A compact Python library for code-writing and tool-calling agents, with MCP tools, any model provider and remote sandboxes through E2B, Docker, Modal or Blaxel. The newest release is 1.26.0 of 29 May 2026, a critical remote-executor RCE took about eight weeks to fix, and the local executor isn't a security boundary." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents.min.md" }, "markdown": "BoxLang AI scores 65.8 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do agent frameworks.\n\n- BoxLang AI: grade B, 65.8/100, rank #403 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/boxlang-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/boxlang-ai.json\n- smolagents: grade C, 58.7/100, rank #739 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smolagents.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/smolagents.json\n- Best agent frameworks and SDKs: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/frameworks/index.md\n- All 171 frameworks comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/frameworks/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### BoxLang AI (B)\n\nGood for: Teams already running BoxLang or modernising CFML on the JVM who want agents, RAG and MCP with approval and guardrails in the same language\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 68\n- Security \u0026 auth, 71 against 66\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 34\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 70 against 65\n\nWatch for: Runs only on BoxLang, a JVM language, so it suits teams already on BoxLang or CFML rather than Python or TypeScript stacks\n\n### smolagents (C)\n\nGood for: Small Python projects and research that want code-writing agents with minimal abstraction.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 81 against 71\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 50\n\nWatch for: No release since 1.26.0 on 29 May 2026, and few commits to main since August\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: BoxLang AI +49\n\n- BoxLang AI (83): 3.6.0 on 2026-10-20 (30). Three releases in the 90 days to 1 November, 3.4.0 on 1 September, 3.5.0 on 11 September and 3.6.0 on 20 October (20). 79 commits on the development branch in those 90 days from Luis Majano, Doug Cain, Copilot and dependency bots, with pull requests up to #326 merged on 1 November. Issue reply times couldn't be read (10 of 25). The ForgeBox package is current at 3.6.0 (15). Dependabot for Gradle monthly and Actions quarterly, tests on pull requests and development, and a format check (8 of 10). 83 in all.\n- smolagents (34): v1.26.0 on 29 May 2026, 161 days before this check (10). No release in the 90 days to 6 November (0). 416 open issues and 1,045 open issues and pull requests on 6 November, with 144 issues opened in the 90 days to 3 November. Of the 50 newest, 26 had a comment and 1 was closed. Two 2026 CVE records say the vendor didn't respond to the reporter, and seven commits reached main from 8 August to 6 November (6). Python only, and the package is the current one (10). CI with actions pinned to commit SHAs and Dependabot for actions (8). 10+0+6+10+8 = 34.\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: smolagents +10\n\n- BoxLang AI (71): Framework reading. A reference page for each built-in function with its arguments, and tool schemas generated from typed function arguments with required fields since 3.3.1. BoxLang is dynamically typed and no published API reference was found, though the repository builds DocBox API docs (15 of 25). llms.txt with about 150 entries and a Markdown copy of every page (10). The FAQ says when to use aiChat() or aiAgent() and the security guide says which guards to use when, though some FAQ links still say coming soon for pages that exist (14 of 20). Tool arguments are typed with required lists, and stdio options a server doesn't have throw InvalidArgument (11 of 15). About 100 example scripts in the repository and a gallery on ai.boxlang.io, but the production guide catches RateLimitException, TimeoutException and AuthenticationException, which the module's source never throws, and there is no exception reference (9 of 15). Keep a Changelog and a release-history page per version, but the 3.6.0 page still read unreleased on 1 November and two old versions appear twice in the changelog (12 of 15). 71 in all.\n- smolagents (81): Framework reading. A typed Python API with reference pages for agents, models, tools and executors (22). llms.txt and Markdown pages on huggingface.co (10). The docs say when to use CodeAgent or ToolCallingAgent and when a sandbox is needed (17). Tools declare typed inputs in a schema dictionary or from a decorated function (12). Many runnable examples; error classes exist but aren't catalogued (10). Versions tagged with release notes, no changelog file (10). 22+10+17+12+10+10 = 81.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: smolagents +10\n\n- BoxLang AI (50): Self-hosted rule, scored on the paid option. No payment protocol (0). BoxLang runtime plans are public without a login, Starter $749 a year and BoxLang+ and BoxLang++ from $1,999 to $4,999 a server or node a year, plan pricing rather than per unit (10). The Apache-2.0 module installs with no card (20) and no account or sign-up (20). 50 in all.\n- smolagents (60): Self-hosted rule. Free Apache-2.0 package with nothing to buy from the project (20 + 20 + 20). No payment protocol (0). 0+20+20+20 = 60.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: BoxLang AI +6\n\n- BoxLang AI (74): Framework reading, scored on what a tool-calling agent with MCP takes. An agent with an MCP server is one `aiAgent()` call with `mcpServers`, and `toolFilter` and `prefix` limit what each server adds. Skills can load lazily, but `autoLoadSkills` is on by default and injects every SKILL.md under /.agents/skills into every agent (20 of 25). MaxToolCallsMiddleware caps tool calls, window and summary memory bound history by messages or tokens, `withMaxResponseBytes` caps MCP answers and `listTools( cursor )` pages tools (17 of 20). Named exceptions (ProviderError, UnsupportedCapability, InvalidArgument, MCPCommandRefused, BXAI.SecurityViolation) but no reference page, and the changelog says a timed-out call still surfaces as a JSON parse error (12 of 20). RetryMiddleware with exponential backoff, approval resumes that don't replay the model call or rerun executed tools, and a stdio client that never repeats an in-flight call. MCP tool annotations such as readOnlyHint aren't read (15 of 20). An agent needs a name and works with defaults, and a mock provider runs with no key, but it is one language (10 of 15). 74 in all.\n- smolagents (68): Framework reading. MCPClient loads an MCP server's tools in a few lines (20). max_steps, planning intervals and final_answer_checks bound a run (16). Errors from tools and code go back to the model as observations (14). No built-in retry, idempotency or resume beyond replaying memory (8). Few required parameters and many providers, Python only, and the default model needs a Hugging Face token (10). 20+16+14+8+10 = 68.\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: BoxLang AI +5\n\n- BoxLang AI (71): Framework reading. 30 for what leaves the machine and credentials, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt injection, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. No telemetry in the module's source, requests go only to configured providers, keys come from settings or environment variables, and request logging is off by default. 3.4.0 fixed a Gemini key leaking into logs through the request URL (27 of 30). Approval is enforced in code by HumanInTheLoopMiddleware with five policies, GuardrailMiddleware blocks tools by name and argument pattern, and stdio commands never use a shell. All of it is opt-in. `allowedCommands` allows any executable by default, FileSystemTools allows any path without `allowedPaths`, and the MCP server has no authentication unless configured (12 of 20). Unicode hygiene and fencing of `${context}` are on by default, with opt-in input sanitiser, LLM judge and output guard. Streaming guards detect after the fact, which the changelog says (14 of 15). About 70 interception points, LoggingMiddleware, FlightRecorderMiddleware and MCP server statistics, with no OpenTelemetry export (11 of 15). CONTRIBUTING.md asks for reports to security@ortussolutions.com and the Slack #security channel. No security.txt (410), no bounty, and no published advisory found, while 3.6.0 lists a SQL injection fix in MySQL vector memory under Fixed (7 of 20). 71 in all.\n- smolagents (66): Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing). No telemetry found in the source (25). No human approval hook beyond step callbacks; the local executor restricts imports but the guide says it isn't a security tool, and isolation needs a remote executor (10). The secure execution guide covers LLM-generated code risks, without prompt-injection guidance for tool output (7). OpenTelemetry tracing through OpenInference and run inspection (12). SECURITY.md with private reporting and CVE credit, and the remote-executor RCE was fixed in public, but two 2026 CVE records say the vendor didn't respond (12). 25+10+7+12+12 = 66.\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: BoxLang AI +5\n\n- BoxLang AI (70): Apache-2.0, OSI approved, though the licence file sits in src/main/resources rather than the repository root (30). The FAQ says prompts and history go to the chosen cloud provider and that Ollama keeps data local, and we found no telemetry in the source, but there's no statement for the module of what, if anything, Ortus receives. Ortus's privacy policy covers its website and customers and says data is collected when you use its products without naming which (15 of 30). Migration notes are dated in the changelog, and default models were moved off a Groq model on its removal date, but there's no written deprecation policy or support window (10 of 20). No telemetry statement either way in the docs (10 of 20). 65 in all.\n- smolagents (65): Apache-2.0 (30). The library stores nothing itself; the default model sends prompts to Hugging Face's inference providers, which the docs show (20). Breaking removals such as WasmExecutor shipped in minor releases, without a written deprecation policy (5). No telemetry, though no page states it (12). 30+20+5+12 = 67.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | BoxLang AI | smolagents | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 66 | 64 | BoxLang AI +2 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 81 | smolagents +10 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 68 | BoxLang AI +6 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 66 | BoxLang AI +5 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 60 | smolagents +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 34 | BoxLang AI +49 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 65 | BoxLang AI +5 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -6 | |\n| **Total** | | **65.8 · B** | **58.7 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | BoxLang AI | smolagents |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |\n| Vendor | Ortus Solutions | Hugging Face |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | None | None |\n| Pricing | Free | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-20 | 2026-05-29 |\n| Terms last updated | no date given | 2022-09-15 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2023-03-28 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | none | 30k stars, 171k PyPI/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**BoxLang AI.** A JVM agent framework with human approval, guardrail middleware and an MCP client over HTTP and stdio, all enforced in code, with three releases in the 90 days to 1 November 2026. It runs only on BoxLang, the stronger guards are opt-in, and minor releases have renamed public classes without a deprecation period.\n\n**smolagents.** A compact Python library for code-writing and tool-calling agents, with MCP tools, any model provider and remote sandboxes through E2B, Docker, Modal or Blaxel. The newest release is 1.26.0 of 29 May 2026, a critical remote-executor RCE took about eight weeks to fix, and the local executor isn't a security boundary.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### BoxLang AI\n\n1. Set `mcp.stdio.allowedCommands` to the executables you need. The default empty list lets any command start as a stdio MCP server.\n2. Pass `allowedPaths` when you create FileSystemTools. With none, its tools can read, write and delete anywhere the JVM user can.\n3. Attach HumanInTheLoopMiddleware with a checkpointer for tools that write or spend. Approval is opt-in.\n4. Create MCP clients with `MCP()` rather than the class, since 3.6.0 renamed MCPClient to MCPHttpClient without an alias.\n5. Use the `mock` provider to test agent wiring and guardrails with no API key or network.\n\n### smolagents\n\n1. Run CodeAgent with `executor_type` set to e2b, docker, modal or blaxel whenever the model or its inputs aren't trusted\n2. Use smolagents 1.24.0 or later to get the remote-executor deserialisation fix\n3. Set max_steps and final_answer_checks so a run stops on its own\n4. Pass structured_output explicitly to MCPClient to avoid the default-change warning\n5. Pin the version, since minor releases have removed APIs\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, BoxLang AI or smolagents?\n\nBoxLang AI scores 65.8 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on schema \u0026 documentation and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Are BoxLang AI and smolagents open source?\n\nYes. BoxLang AI is open source (Apache-2.0). smolagents is open source (Apache-2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"boxlang-ai\", \"b\": \"smolagents\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare boxlang-ai smolagents`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/boxlang-ai.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/smolagents.json\n\n## Other comparisons with BoxLang AI or smolagents\n\n- [AgentOS vs BoxLang AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-boxlang-ai.md)\n- [AgentOS vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Agno vs BoxLang AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-boxlang-ai.md)\n- [Agno vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Claude Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-claude-agent-sdk.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs CrewAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-crewai.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Cursor Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Docker Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-docker-agent.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Agent Development Kit (ADK)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-google-adk.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-guilds-run.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs LangGraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-langgraph.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs LlamaIndex Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-llamaindex.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Mastra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-mastra.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Microsoft Agent Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Pydantic AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-pydantic-ai.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-strands-agents.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs TradingAgents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-tradingagents.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs AI SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.md)\n- [Claude Agent SDK vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [CrewAI vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Docker Agent vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-agent-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-adk-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [guilds.run vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [LangGraph vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/langgraph-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [LlamaIndex Framework vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llamaindex-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Mastra vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastra-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Microsoft Agent Framework vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-agent-framework-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [OpenAI Agents SDK vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-sdk-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Pydantic AI vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pydantic-ai-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [smolagents vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-strands-agents.md)\n- [smolagents vs TradingAgents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-tradingagents.md)\n- [smolagents vs AI SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "BoxLang AI vs smolagents", "url": "" } ], "description": "BoxLang AI scores 65.8 (B) to smolagents's 58.7 (C) for agent frameworks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "BoxLang AI B 65.8", "smolagents C 58.7", "scores" ], "h1": "BoxLang AI vs smolagents", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "BoxLang AI vs smolagents for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 4650, "slim": 2630 }, "version": 1 }