{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "slug": "cursor-agent-sdk",
      "name": "Cursor Agent SDK",
      "vendor": "Cursor",
      "vendorUrl": "https://cursor.com/docs/agent-sdk",
      "kind": "framework",
      "category": "frameworks",
      "summary": "Cursor's TypeScript framework for defining an agent as a folder of instructions, typed tools, skills, MCP connections and channels, testing it with evals, and running it on your own server or on Cursor's hosting.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-agent-sdk",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.json",
      "dns": "cursor-agent-sdk.grade.anchorterminal.com",
      "license": "Proprietary. The package's LICENSE.md reads \"© Anysphere Inc. All rights reserved\", with use subject to Cursor's Terms of Service (updated 3 September 2026). No source repository is published",
      "transports": [],
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "@grok/agent-sdk"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "Model turns need a Cursor credential. `agent-sdk login` opens a browser sign-in and stores the key it creates, or pass a user API key from the dashboard or a team service-account key as `--api-key`, `CURSOR_API_KEY`, `CURSOR_API_KEY_FILE` or `CURSOR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY`. `logout` doesn't revoke the key. Direct tool calls without a model turn need no Cursor key. A self-hosted server is protected with `--bearer-token`, and a deployment's routes with an alias token.",
      "pricing": "byo-plan",
      "pricingNotes": "The package is free to install. Model turns draw on the Cursor plan of the key's owner, Free ($0, limited agent requests) to Ultra ($200 a month), and beyond the weekly pool the default model, Grok 4.5 with Fast on, is $4 per million input tokens and $18 per million output tokens. No price for Cursor-managed hosting and no statement of which plans include the Agent SDK were found (checked 2026-10-27).",
      "priceSummary": "Your plan",
      "where": "library",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Agent SDK docs, the npm package or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-27).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": null,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-10-27"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://cursor.com/docs/agent-sdk",
      "llmsTxt": "https://cursor.com/llms.txt",
      "capabilities": [
        "agent.framework",
        "agent.mcp-client",
        "agent.durable",
        "agent.multi-agent",
        "obs.evals"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "official",
        "framework",
        "typescript",
        "closed-source",
        "mcp",
        "llms-txt",
        "pre-1.0",
        "self-hosted",
        "hosted",
        "new"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-10-25",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 63.7,
        "grade": "B",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 503,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 1510,
        "categoryRank": 15,
        "methodology": "0.7",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 80,
          "maintenance": 74,
          "payments": 30,
          "reliability": 45,
          "schema": 82,
          "security": 68,
          "transparency": 71
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-11-02"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "An agent-as-code framework with typed tools, declared read and write effects that drive retries and dry runs, an approval gate per tool and evals that assert on tool calls. It's closed source, every model turn runs through Cursor's backend on a Cursor plan, local sandboxing is off by default, and the changelog has two entries.",
        "bestFor": "Teams already on Cursor who want version-controlled agents for pull request review, triage and Slack, with evals in CI and one-command hosting.",
        "strengths": [
          "Tools declare a read, write or idempotent effect. Only reads and idempotent calls retry, and dry-run sessions stub writes",
          "`needsApproval` on a tool parks the call until a person approves, and `ctx.approvedBy` records who did",
          "Evals assert which tools ran, with what input, and the reply's shape, and `github replay` turns a real pull request into signed test deliveries",
          "Every page has a Markdown twin listed in cursor.com/llms.txt, and the package ships the same docs and an llms.txt",
          "Sessions keep a record of every message and tool call, and OpenTelemetry export stays off until an endpoint is set"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "Closed source under Cursor's terms, with no public repository, CI or issue tracker",
          "Every model turn runs through Cursor's backend with a Cursor credential, including on a self-hosted server",
          "Local sandboxing is off by default, so shell commands auto-approve with the host's credentials",
          "The changelog has two entries, 0.2.29 and 0.3.0, both dated 23 October 2026. The 27 earlier @cursor/bdk versions have none",
          "The launch post's install command names a package that doesn't exist on npm"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Install `@grok/agent-sdk`, not `@cursor/agent-sdk` from the launch post. That name answers 404 on npm",
          "Set `local.sandbox` before a turn reads webhook payloads, pull request diffs or chat. Without it shell commands auto-approve with the host's credentials",
          "Give every tool an `effect`. A tool without one counts as a write, runs once and is stubbed in dry runs",
          "Start `agent-sdk serve` with `--bearer-token` on any shared host. `--allow-anonymous` admits every caller as one principal",
          "Delete bot/hooks/memory.ts when sessions serve different people. The journal shares each turn's message and result with later turns"
        ],
        "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": 63.7
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 80,
          "maintenance": 74,
          "payments": 30,
          "reliability": 45,
          "schema": 82,
          "security": 68,
          "transparency": 49
        },
        "provenanceScore": 92,
        "checked": {
          "categories": {
            "ergonomics": "2026-11-02",
            "maintenance": "2026-11-02",
            "payments": "2026-11-02",
            "reliability": "2026-11-02",
            "schema": "2026-11-02",
            "security": "2026-11-02",
            "transparency": "2026-11-02"
          },
          "last": "2026-11-02",
          "lastMoved": "2026-10-28",
          "oldest": "2026-11-02",
          "stale": false,
          "staleAfterDays": 90
        }
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "npm install --global @grok/agent-sdk",
        "headless": {
          "run": "agent-sdk run --dir . --message \"Introduce yourself in one sentence.\""
        }
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.framework",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/cursor-agent-sdk"
      },
      "sameCompany": [
        "cursor-cli",
        "grok-bot"
      ],
      "area": "frameworks",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Grok 4.5 Fast (the default model) input, beyond the weekly pool",
          "unit": "1m-tokens",
          "usd": 4,
          "note": "cache reads $1"
        },
        {
          "item": "Grok 4.5 Fast (the default model) output, beyond the weekly pool",
          "unit": "1m-tokens",
          "usd": 18
        },
        {
          "item": "Grok 4.5 input, Fast off, beyond the weekly pool",
          "unit": "1m-tokens",
          "usd": 2,
          "note": "cache reads $0.50"
        },
        {
          "item": "Grok 4.5 output, Fast off, beyond the weekly pool",
          "unit": "1m-tokens",
          "usd": 6
        },
        {
          "item": "Premium plan (first plan with Cloud Agents and third-party models)",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 30
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Anysphere, Inc.",
        "domain": "cursor.com",
        "domainRegistered": "1995-12-20",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": null,
        "terms": "https://cursor.com/terms-of-service",
        "privacy": "https://cursor.com/privacy",
        "statusPage": "https://status.cursor.com",
        "changelog": "https://cursor.com/docs/agent-sdk/changelog",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-11-02",
        "notes": [
          "The package's LICENSE.md and the site footer name Anysphere, Inc. The terms of service are dated 3 September 2026 and the privacy policy 11 October 2026.",
          "RDAP (Verisign) gives cursor.com a registration date of 1995-12-20.",
          "cursor.com/.well-known/security.txt has a Contact line pointing to github.com/getcursor/cursor/security and a secondary email, and no Expires line. The site's tracker reads a file with a Contact and no Expires as valid, as on the Cursor CLI listing.",
          "The footer links status.cursor.com. Its robots.txt answered with a Cloudflare challenge on 27 October 2026, so the status page wasn't read.",
          "The npm package's repository field points to github.com/cursor/cursor, which holds only a README and SECURITY.md.",
          "On 2 November 2026 status.cursor.com answered with a redirect to status.x.ai, whose page answered a Cloudflare block, so the status page couldn't be read."
        ],
        "score": 92
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.cursor.com",
          "indicator": "none",
          "summary": "All Systems Operational",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T19:21:41.168239107Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "@grok/agent-sdk",
            "version": "0.6.0",
            "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:19:06.91158327Z"
          }
        ],
        "npmWeekly": 9330,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://cursor.com/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:25.031295704Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://cursor.com/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:32:13.986094369Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "cursor.com",
          "registered": "1995-12-20",
          "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/cursor.com",
          "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:10:15.995316039Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://cursor.com/docs/agent-sdk/changelog",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:02:17.860421755Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "e878680a2c18"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://cursor.com/privacy",
            "kind": "privacy",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:02:21.713695997Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-10-21T00:22:04.890633076Z",
            "fingerprint": "60c67a53fa8c"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://cursor.com/terms-of-service",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:02:23.744923691Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-10-21T00:22:07.052190293Z",
            "fingerprint": "d31f70e876bc"
          }
        ],
        "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T19:21:41.168239107Z"
      }
    },
    "answer": "Cursor Agent SDK scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on reliability 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": 40,
        "category": "maintenance",
        "leads": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "0.3.0 on npm on 25 October 2026, per the 27 October check (npm not re-read on 2 November), and the docs changelog still ends at 0.3.0 of 23 October (30). Five @grok/agent-sdk versions from 22 to 25 October and 29 @cursor/bdk versions since 22 September, per the 27 October check (20). Closed product. A public changelog with two entries and a forum with no Agent SDK tag, so we couldn't see replies to SDK reports (8). The npm package is current and official, TypeScript only (12). Dependencies are current releases, but there's no public CI and the same build goes out under three names with a postinstall script (4). 30+20+8+12+4 = 74.",
          "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": 74,
          "b": 34
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 30,
        "category": "payments",
        "leads": "smolagents",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Framework reading of the published rubric. No payment protocol (0). Per-million-token prices for Cursor models, including the default Grok 4.5 with Fast, and plan prices are public, but no price for managed hosting and no statement of which plans cover the Agent SDK were found (15). The package is free and the Free plan needs no card, but its usage is only described as limited agent requests (15). A person signs in through a browser or creates an API key in the dashboard before a model turn runs (0). 0+15+15+0 = 30.",
          "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": 30,
          "b": 60
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 19,
        "category": "reliability",
        "leads": "smolagents",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Local-package reading, since the owner runs the framework, with Cursor's hosting as an option. Official npm package with Node 22.13 or newer stated in engines and in the docs, which also say never Bun (20). Closed source, so no public CI or test suite (0). No public issue tracker. github.com/cursor/cursor holds a README and SECURITY.md, and forum.cursor.com has no Agent SDK tag, so there's nothing to count open crashes against. The troubleshooting page lists known failures with fixes (5). A dated changelog of two entries, 0.2.29 and 0.3.0, both 23 October 2026, and 0.3.0 calls out the removed `persistent` option, but the 27 earlier @cursor/bdk versions and 123 @cursor/july versions have no notes, and one build ships under three package names (5). Version 0.3.0, but the changelog post of 20 October says generally available and the docs changelog labels 0.3.0 the GA release, which we read as declared stable (15). 20+0+5+5+15 = 45.",
          "b": "Local-package reading. Official PyPI package with Python 3.10 or newer (20). A public tests workflow runs pytest on Python 3.10 and 3.12 for pushes and pull requests; whether main passes wasn't read (15). 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). Release notes on GitHub tags but no changelog file, and the remote WasmExecutor was removed in a minor release (8). 1.0 since 31 December 2024 (15). 20+15+6+8+15 = 64."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 45,
          "b": 64
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 12,
        "category": "ergonomics",
        "leads": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Framework reading, scored on what it takes to run a tool-calling agent with MCP. One file per tool and one file per MCP connection, `tools` and `disallowedTools` filters with `effects: \"read\"`, and an allowlist for the harness's built-in tools (22). Concurrency caps with queued turns, `--fields`, page tokens and limits on list commands, and a per-session cost view. We found no turn cap or spend cap for a run (12). Built-in routes return `{ ok: false, error }` codes, direct tool calls have documented 400, 404, 409 and 500 codes, and the CLI has seven exit codes (18). Reads and idempotent calls retry up to three times, writes run once, MCP readOnlyHint and idempotentHint decide retries for connection tools, and dry-run sessions stub writes (20). `agent-sdk init` scaffolds a working project and every agent field is optional, but the framework is TypeScript only (8). 22+12+18+20+8 = 80.",
          "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": 80,
          "b": 68
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 6,
        "category": "transparency",
        "leads": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Closed source. LICENSE.md reads All rights reserved, with use under Cursor's Terms of Service of 3 September 2026 (15). The data-use page says Privacy Mode keeps Customer Data out of training with zero-retention agreements at model providers, and that with it off Cursor may store and train on code and prompts. The deployment page says managed hosting stores the repository and agent data the same way under Privacy Mode and refuses Privacy Mode (Legacy). No retention periods are stated, and subprocessors are on a trust portal (14). No deprecation policy. The early-alpha migration guide, the `persistent` removal and the semantic-search removal are documented with error messages but only the changelog entry carries a date (6). OpenTelemetry and the update check are documented with switches. What the Cursor backend logs from turns is covered only by the data-use page (14). 15+14+6+14 = 49.",
          "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": 71,
          "b": 65
        }
      }
    ],
    "facts": [
      {
        "a": "Agent framework",
        "b": "Agent framework",
        "name": "Kind"
      },
      {
        "a": "Cursor",
        "b": "Hugging Face",
        "name": "Vendor"
      },
      {
        "a": "no (local only)",
        "b": "no (local only)",
        "name": "Hosted endpoint"
      },
      {
        "a": "",
        "b": "",
        "name": "Transports"
      },
      {
        "a": "OAuth or key",
        "b": "None",
        "name": "Auth"
      },
      {
        "a": "Your plan",
        "b": "Free",
        "name": "Pricing"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "x402"
      },
      {
        "a": "Proprietary. The package's LICENSE.md reads \"© Anysphere Inc. All rights reserved\", with use subject to Cursor's Terms of Service (updated 3 September 2026). No source repository is published",
        "b": "Apache-2.0",
        "name": "Licence"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "Read-only variant documented"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "llms.txt"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-10-25",
        "b": "2026-05-29",
        "name": "Last release"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-09-03",
        "b": "2022-09-15",
        "name": "Terms last updated"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-09-29",
        "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": "yes",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms restrict automated access"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "Terms or service can change without notice"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver"
      },
      {
        "a": "none",
        "b": "30k stars, 171k PyPI/wk",
        "name": "Popularity"
      }
    ],
    "faq": [
      {
        "answer": "Cursor Agent SDK scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.",
        "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Cursor Agent SDK or smolagents?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "No open-source release is listed for Cursor Agent SDK. smolagents is open source (Apache-2.0).",
        "question": "Are Cursor Agent SDK and smolagents open source?"
      }
    ],
    "goodFor": [
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Agent ergonomics, 80 against 68",
          "Maintenance \u0026 community, 74 against 34",
          "Transparency \u0026 trust, 71 against 65"
        ],
        "also": [
          "No incidents deducted, where smolagents loses 6 points for them"
        ],
        "goodFor": "Teams already on Cursor who want version-controlled agents for pull request review, triage and Slack, with evals in CI and one-command hosting.",
        "slug": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "watchFor": "Closed source under Cursor's terms, with no public repository, CI or issue tracker"
      },
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Reliability, 64 against 45",
          "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 30"
        ],
        "also": [
          "No key needed to call it",
          "Open source"
        ],
        "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": {
      "cursor-agent-sdk": [
        {
          "causes": [
            "method"
          ],
          "date": "2026-10-28",
          "delta": 0.1,
          "from": 63.6,
          "fromGrade": "B",
          "to": 63.7,
          "toGrade": "B"
        }
      ],
      "smolagents": null
    },
    "job": {
      "capability": "agent.framework",
      "name": "Agent frameworks"
    },
    "others": [
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.json",
        "title": "AgentOS vs Cursor Agent SDK",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-cursor-agent-sdk"
      },
      {
        "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-cursor-agent-sdk.json",
        "title": "Agno vs Cursor Agent SDK",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-cursor-agent-sdk"
      },
      {
        "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-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-smolagents.json",
        "title": "BoxLang AI vs smolagents",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.json",
        "title": "Claude Agent SDK vs Cursor Agent SDK",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-cursor-agent-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-cursor-agent-sdk.json",
        "title": "CrewAI vs Cursor Agent SDK",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-cursor-agent-sdk"
      },
      {
        "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-docker-agent.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs Docker Agent",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-docker-agent"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-google-adk.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs Agent Development Kit (ADK)",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-google-adk"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-guilds-run.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs guilds.run",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-guilds-run"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-langgraph.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs LangGraph",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-langgraph"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-llamaindex.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs LlamaIndex Framework",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-llamaindex"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-mastra.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs Mastra",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-mastra"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs Microsoft Agent Framework",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-microsoft-agent-framework"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-openai-agents-sdk.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs OpenAI Agents SDK",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-openai-agents-sdk"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-pydantic-ai.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs Pydantic AI",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-pydantic-ai"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-strands-agents.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs Strands Agents",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-strands-agents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-tradingagents.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs TradingAgents",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-tradingagents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.json",
        "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs AI SDK",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-vercel-ai-sdk"
      },
      {
        "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": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-adk-vs-smolagents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-smolagents.json",
        "title": "guilds.run vs smolagents",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-smolagents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/langgraph-vs-smolagents.json",
        "title": "LangGraph vs smolagents",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/langgraph-vs-smolagents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llamaindex-vs-smolagents.json",
        "title": "LlamaIndex Framework vs smolagents",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llamaindex-vs-smolagents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastra-vs-smolagents.json",
        "title": "Mastra vs smolagents",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastra-vs-smolagents"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-agent-framework-vs-smolagents.json",
        "title": "Microsoft Agent Framework vs smolagents",
        "url": "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": [
      {
        "by": 19,
        "cursor-agent-sdk": 45,
        "edge": "smolagents",
        "key": "reliability",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "smolagents": 64,
        "weight": 16
      },
      {
        "key": "performance",
        "name": "Performance",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "by": 1,
        "cursor-agent-sdk": 82,
        "edge": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "key": "schema",
        "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation",
        "smolagents": 81,
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "by": 12,
        "cursor-agent-sdk": 80,
        "edge": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "key": "ergonomics",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "smolagents": 68,
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "by": 2,
        "cursor-agent-sdk": 68,
        "edge": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "key": "security",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "smolagents": 66,
        "weight": 14
      },
      {
        "by": 30,
        "cursor-agent-sdk": 30,
        "edge": "smolagents",
        "key": "payments",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "smolagents": 60,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "key": "tasks",
        "name": "Task success",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "by": 40,
        "cursor-agent-sdk": 74,
        "edge": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "key": "maintenance",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "smolagents": 34,
        "weight": 7
      },
      {
        "by": 6,
        "cursor-agent-sdk": 71,
        "edge": "cursor-agent-sdk",
        "key": "transparency",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "smolagents": 65,
        "weight": 7
      }
    ],
    "summary": "Cursor Agent SDK scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do agent frameworks.",
    "tasks": null,
    "tutorials": [],
    "verdicts": {
      "cursor-agent-sdk": "An agent-as-code framework with typed tools, declared read and write effects that drive retries and dry runs, an approval gate per tool and evals that assert on tool calls. It's closed source, every model turn runs through Cursor's backend on a Cursor plan, local sandboxing is off by default, and the changelog has two entries.",
      "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/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents",
    "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.json",
    "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt",
    "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.md",
    "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp",
    "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.min.md"
  },
  "markdown": "Cursor Agent SDK scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing. Both do agent frameworks.\n\n- Cursor Agent SDK: grade B, 63.7/100, rank #503 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.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### Cursor Agent SDK (B)\n\nGood for: Teams already on Cursor who want version-controlled agents for pull request review, triage and Slack, with evals in CI and one-command hosting.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 68\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 74 against 34\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 71 against 65\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No incidents deducted, where smolagents loses 6 points for them\n\nWatch for: Closed source under Cursor's terms, with no public repository, CI or issue tracker\n\n### smolagents (C)\n\nGood for: Small Python projects and research that want code-writing agents with minimal abstraction.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 64 against 45\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 30\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Open source\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: Cursor Agent SDK +40\n\n- Cursor Agent SDK (74): 0.3.0 on npm on 25 October 2026, per the 27 October check (npm not re-read on 2 November), and the docs changelog still ends at 0.3.0 of 23 October (30). Five @grok/agent-sdk versions from 22 to 25 October and 29 @cursor/bdk versions since 22 September, per the 27 October check (20). Closed product. A public changelog with two entries and a forum with no Agent SDK tag, so we couldn't see replies to SDK reports (8). The npm package is current and official, TypeScript only (12). Dependencies are current releases, but there's no public CI and the same build goes out under three names with a postinstall script (4). 30+20+8+12+4 = 74.\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### Payments \u0026 pricing: smolagents +30\n\n- Cursor Agent SDK (30): Framework reading of the published rubric. No payment protocol (0). Per-million-token prices for Cursor models, including the default Grok 4.5 with Fast, and plan prices are public, but no price for managed hosting and no statement of which plans cover the Agent SDK were found (15). The package is free and the Free plan needs no card, but its usage is only described as limited agent requests (15). A person signs in through a browser or creates an API key in the dashboard before a model turn runs (0). 0+15+15+0 = 30.\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### Reliability: smolagents +19\n\n- Cursor Agent SDK (45): Local-package reading, since the owner runs the framework, with Cursor's hosting as an option. Official npm package with Node 22.13 or newer stated in engines and in the docs, which also say never Bun (20). Closed source, so no public CI or test suite (0). No public issue tracker. github.com/cursor/cursor holds a README and SECURITY.md, and forum.cursor.com has no Agent SDK tag, so there's nothing to count open crashes against. The troubleshooting page lists known failures with fixes (5). A dated changelog of two entries, 0.2.29 and 0.3.0, both 23 October 2026, and 0.3.0 calls out the removed `persistent` option, but the 27 earlier @cursor/bdk versions and 123 @cursor/july versions have no notes, and one build ships under three package names (5). Version 0.3.0, but the changelog post of 20 October says generally available and the docs changelog labels 0.3.0 the GA release, which we read as declared stable (15). 20+0+5+5+15 = 45.\n- smolagents (64): Local-package reading. Official PyPI package with Python 3.10 or newer (20). A public tests workflow runs pytest on Python 3.10 and 3.12 for pushes and pull requests; whether main passes wasn't read (15). 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). Release notes on GitHub tags but no changelog file, and the remote WasmExecutor was removed in a minor release (8). 1.0 since 31 December 2024 (15). 20+15+6+8+15 = 64.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Cursor Agent SDK +12\n\n- Cursor Agent SDK (80): Framework reading, scored on what it takes to run a tool-calling agent with MCP. One file per tool and one file per MCP connection, `tools` and `disallowedTools` filters with `effects: \"read\"`, and an allowlist for the harness's built-in tools (22). Concurrency caps with queued turns, `--fields`, page tokens and limits on list commands, and a per-session cost view. We found no turn cap or spend cap for a run (12). Built-in routes return `{ ok: false, error }` codes, direct tool calls have documented 400, 404, 409 and 500 codes, and the CLI has seven exit codes (18). Reads and idempotent calls retry up to three times, writes run once, MCP readOnlyHint and idempotentHint decide retries for connection tools, and dry-run sessions stub writes (20). `agent-sdk init` scaffolds a working project and every agent field is optional, but the framework is TypeScript only (8). 22+12+18+20+8 = 80.\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### Transparency \u0026 trust: Cursor Agent SDK +6\n\n- Cursor Agent SDK (71): Closed source. LICENSE.md reads All rights reserved, with use under Cursor's Terms of Service of 3 September 2026 (15). The data-use page says Privacy Mode keeps Customer Data out of training with zero-retention agreements at model providers, and that with it off Cursor may store and train on code and prompts. The deployment page says managed hosting stores the repository and agent data the same way under Privacy Mode and refuses Privacy Mode (Legacy). No retention periods are stated, and subprocessors are on a trust portal (14). No deprecation policy. The early-alpha migration guide, the `persistent` removal and the semantic-search removal are documented with error messages but only the changelog entry carries a date (6). OpenTelemetry and the update check are documented with switches. What the Cursor backend logs from turns is covered only by the data-use page (14). 15+14+6+14 = 49.\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 | Cursor Agent SDK | smolagents | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 64 | smolagents +19 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 81 | Cursor Agent SDK +1 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 68 | Cursor Agent SDK +12 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 66 | Cursor Agent SDK +2 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | smolagents +30 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 34 | Cursor Agent SDK +40 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 65 | Cursor Agent SDK +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -6 | |\n| **Total** | | **63.7 · B** | **58.7 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Cursor Agent SDK | smolagents |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |\n| Vendor | Cursor | Hugging Face |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports |  |  |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | None |\n| Pricing | Your plan | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary. The package's LICENSE.md reads \"© Anysphere Inc. All rights reserved\", with use subject to Cursor's Terms of Service (updated 3 September 2026). No source repository is published | Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-25 | 2026-05-29 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-09-03 | 2022-09-15 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-29 | 2023-03-28 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | none | 30k stars, 171k PyPI/wk |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Cursor Agent SDK\n\n- +0.1 on 28 October 2026: checklist\n\n### smolagents\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Cursor Agent SDK.** An agent-as-code framework with typed tools, declared read and write effects that drive retries and dry runs, an approval gate per tool and evals that assert on tool calls. It's closed source, every model turn runs through Cursor's backend on a Cursor plan, local sandboxing is off by default, and the changelog has two entries.\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### Cursor Agent SDK\n\n1. Install `@grok/agent-sdk`, not `@cursor/agent-sdk` from the launch post. That name answers 404 on npm\n2. Set `local.sandbox` before a turn reads webhook payloads, pull request diffs or chat. Without it shell commands auto-approve with the host's credentials\n3. Give every tool an `effect`. A tool without one counts as a write, runs once and is stubbed in dry runs\n4. Start `agent-sdk serve` with `--bearer-token` on any shared host. `--allow-anonymous` admits every caller as one principal\n5. Delete bot/hooks/memory.ts when sessions serve different people. The journal shares each turn's message and result with later turns\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, Cursor Agent SDK or smolagents?\n\nCursor Agent SDK scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against smolagents's 58.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. smolagents leads on reliability and payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Are Cursor Agent SDK and smolagents open source?\n\nNo open-source release is listed for Cursor Agent SDK. smolagents is open source (Apache-2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"cursor-agent-sdk\", \"b\": \"smolagents\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cursor-agent-sdk smolagents`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/smolagents.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Cursor Agent SDK or smolagents\n\n- [AgentOS vs Cursor Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md)\n- [AgentOS vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Agno vs Cursor Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md)\n- [Agno vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs Cursor Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md)\n- [BoxLang AI vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Claude Agent SDK vs Cursor Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md)\n- [Claude Agent SDK vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [CrewAI vs Cursor Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md)\n- [CrewAI vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-smolagents.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs Docker Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-docker-agent.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs Agent Development Kit (ADK)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-google-adk.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-guilds-run.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs LangGraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-langgraph.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs LlamaIndex Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-llamaindex.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs Mastra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-mastra.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs Microsoft Agent Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs Pydantic AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-pydantic-ai.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-strands-agents.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs TradingAgents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-tradingagents.md)\n- [Cursor Agent SDK vs AI SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.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": "Cursor Agent SDK vs smolagents",
        "url": ""
      }
    ],
    "description": "Cursor Agent SDK scores 63.7 (B) to smolagents's 58.7 (C) for agent frameworks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.",
    "facts": [
      "Cursor Agent SDK B 63.7",
      "smolagents C 58.7",
      "scores"
    ],
    "h1": "Cursor Agent SDK vs smolagents",
    "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png",
    "path": "/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents",
    "published": "2026-10-01",
    "section": "tools",
    "title": "Cursor Agent SDK vs smolagents for AI agents (2026) | Anchor Terminal",
    "toc": null,
    "updated": "2026-11-07",
    "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-smolagents"
  },
  "tokens": {
    "markdown": 4350,
    "slim": 2280
  },
  "version": 1
}
