Head to head · Agent frameworks · October 2026 research run
Docker Agent vs LlamaIndex Framework
Docker Agent scores 73.6 (BB) on agent readiness against LlamaIndex Framework's 70 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent frameworks.
Best agent frameworks and SDKs · All 171 frameworks comparisons
Which one, for what
Docker Agent BB
Best for Teams already on Docker who want agents defined in a file, shared through an OCI registry and run the same way in a terminal, in CI or behind an HTTP, MCP or A2A server.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 88 against 70
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 85
- Agent ergonomics, 81 against 73
- Maintenance & community, 96 against 69
- Transparency & trust, 81 against 67
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
Usage telemetry is on by default and command events can include prompts passed as arguments
Best for Python teams building retrieval-heavy agents over their own data, with many connectors.
No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.
Watch for
Core is 0.14.x, and minor versions such as 0.13 and 0.14 carried breaking changes
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Maintenance & community Docker Agent +27
Docker Agent 96
v1.154.0 published on 2026-10-28 (30). 36 tagged releases in the 90 days from 3 August to 1 November, v1.120.0 to v1.154.0 (20). 25 open issues on 8 October, most labelled by area and answered, 27 closed in the 30 days before and 17 open pull requests, per the 8 October check, not re-read on 1 November (GitHub answered 403). We didn't measure reply times (21). The Homebrew formula was at 1.154.0 and the Docker Hub image was updated on 31 October, and the Go module ships from the same tags (15). Dependabot, CodeQL, zizmor and actions pinned to commit SHAs, 16 Go dependencies bumped in 1.153.0, with CI passing on main per the 8 October check (10).
LlamaIndex Framework 69
llama-index-core 0.14.25 on 21 September 2026, 46 days before this check (20). Two core changelog entries in the 90 days (19 August and 21 September), with integration packages and Workflows (2.24.1 to 2.26.1) publishing in between, so partial (12). 379 open issues and 1,291 open issues and pull requests on 6 November, with 241 issues opened in the 90 days to 3 November. Of the 50 newest, 28 had a comment and 3 were closed; a stale bot and an issue classifier run on the repository (12). Core, Workflows and integrations are current (15). CI and CodeQL passing on main and a stale-package policy that moves unmaintained integrations out of main (10). 20+12+12+15+10 = 69.
Reliability Docker Agent +18
Docker Agent 88
Read with the local-software lines, because the owner runs it. Binaries for macOS, Linux and Windows on amd64 and arm64 on every GitHub release, a Homebrew formula at 1.154.0 on 1 November, a Docker Hub image updated on 31 October, and Docker Desktop 4.63 and later bundle it. Go 1.27 is the stated minimum for source builds (20). The ci workflow runs on every push to main with about 1,350 test files and an e2e directory. Nine of the last ten push runs passed on 8 October, per the 8 October check, not re-read on 1 November (25). 25 open issues and 17 open pull requests on 8 October, most labelled and answered, with open reports of a race in transfer_task (#4156), a hand-off dropped silently (#4242) and edit_file editing the first of several matches (#3929), per the 8 October check, not re-read on 1 November (20). The changelog has Breaking Changes sections, but those changes ship in minor releases (1.114.0, 1.133.0 and 1.137.0 since July) and the major version has never moved. Since then 1.152.0 (21 October) made --auth-token mandatory on non-loopback API listeners under Bug Fixes, and 1.153.0 (28 October) removed MCP sampling, roots and logging support under Technical Changes and changed Go runtime packages in commits marked !, none of them in a Breaking Changes section (8). 1.154.0, past 1.0 (15).
LlamaIndex Framework 70
Local-package reading. Official PyPI packages with Python 3.10 to below 4.0 (20). Public unit-test, type-check, lint, coverage and CodeQL workflows, with the type-check, lint and CodeQL runs on main passing on 3 November (25). 379 open issues and 1,291 open issues and pull requests on 6 November, with 241 issues opened in the 90 days to 3 November. Of the 50 newest, 28 had a comment and 3 were closed; a stale bot and an issue classifier run on the repository (12). A dated, generated changelog per package, but core is 0.x and minors such as 0.13 and 0.14 carried breaking changes (8). Core isn't 1.0; Workflows is at 2.x, so partial (5). 20+25+12+8+5 = 70.
Transparency & trust Docker Agent +14
Docker Agent 81
Apache-2.0 (30). The telemetry page lists what's collected and warns that arguments and error text can carry secrets or personal data. It doesn't name the endpoint (api.docker.com, per the source), link Docker's privacy policy or give a retention period, unchanged on 17 October (15). Breaking changes are dated in the changelog and one renamed variable kept a fallback for one release, with no written deprecation policy, and the changelog says frozen config schema versions aren't maintained long-term (10). Telemetry is disclosed in the README, the docs and a first-start notice, with an opt-out variable (20).
LlamaIndex Framework 67
MIT (30). The library stores nothing itself; OpenAI is the default provider unless changed, which the docs show (20). A stale-package policy and removals noted in the changelog, such as deprecated IPEX integrations removed in 0.14.25, without dated notice (10). No telemetry, though no page states it (12). 30+20+10+12 = 72.
Agent ergonomics Docker Agent +8
Docker Agent 81
Framework reading, scored on what an agent with MCP needs. The README's agent with one MCP server is eight lines of YAML and no code, with deferred toolsets and a code mode (23). Budgets cap cost, tokens and time, tool results are bounded to 50 KiB since 1.148.0, and context is compacted, but max_iterations is unlimited and no budget applies unless declared (16). --json writes one NDJSON event per message, tool call and error, and the API documents 404, 409, 413 and 502 responses. No exit-code reference found for run --exec (14). Sessions resume from SQLite, the event stream replays from a sequence number, follow-ups accept an Idempotency-Key, and read-only and destructive tool annotations drive the safety modes (18). One binary and a model key or a local model are enough to start. The library is Go only (10).
LlamaIndex Framework 73
Framework reading. MCP tools through a separate llama-index-tools-mcp package, with allowed tools selectable (18). Memory token limits, iteration caps and streaming events (16). Tool errors returned to the agent, with few typed errors (12). Workflow context serialises and resumes, and the DBOS package makes runs durable (16). Few required parameters, but OpenAI is the silent default for LLM and embeddings, Python here with a separate TypeScript edition (11). 18+16+12+16+11 = 73.
Schema & documentation Docker Agent +5
Docker Agent 90
Framework reading. agent-schema.json in the repository is a JSON Schema for the whole config, and the chat server serves its OpenAPI document at /openapi.json. We found no OpenAPI document for the native /api server and didn't check the Go package reference (22). llms.txt on docker.github.io/docker-agent and on docs.docker.com (10). The docs say when to use the API server and when the chat server, compare six ways to pass large input, and state that permissions aren't a security boundary (17). Configs are parsed strictly, unknown fields fail to load with a hint, and safety fields accept four named modes only (13). An examples directory, a troubleshooting page of common errors and documented HTTP status codes for the API. We found no exit-code reference for run --exec (13). A dated CHANGELOG.md and a numbered config schema, now version 16, with migration on load (15).
LlamaIndex Framework 85
Framework reading. A typed Python API with a generated reference (22). llms.txt indexing the framework docs, plus a docs search API and an MCP server for the docs (10). The agents guide says what each agent class is for, and the MCP page lists the three ways to use MCP (15). Tools are typed from function signatures and Pydantic models (13). Many examples and notebooks, few documented error types (10). Dated changelog (15). 22+10+15+13+10+15 = 85.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Docker Agent | LlamaIndex Framework | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 88 | 70 | Docker Agent +18 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 90 | 85 | Docker Agent +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 81 | 73 | Docker Agent +8 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 70 | 74 | LlamaIndex Framework +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 96 | 69 | Docker Agent +27 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 81 | 67 | Docker Agent +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -7 | -2 | |
| Total | BB 73.6/100 | BB 70/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Docker Agent | LlamaIndex Framework |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | Docker | LlamaIndex |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-28 | 2026-09-21 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-26 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-26 | 2026-08-24 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Popularity | 4k stars | 53k stars, 1.3M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | none |
How the scores have moved
LlamaIndex Framework
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
Docker Agent
An agent with an MCP server is eight lines of YAML, and the same file runs in a terminal, headless, or as an HTTP, MCP or A2A server. Usage telemetry is on by default and can carry prompts passed as command arguments, and breaking changes keep shipping in minor releases, two of them in October 2026 without a breaking label.
LlamaIndex Framework
An MIT Python framework for retrieval and agents, with three agent types, multi-agent AgentWorkflow, resumable event-driven Workflows, MCP tools and a huntr bug bounty, and no telemetry found. Core is still 0.14 with breaking minors, OpenAI is the silent default, and approval and injection handling are left to the application.
Before you call either
Docker Agent
- Set
TELEMETRY_ENABLED=falsebeforerunorexecwith a prompt on the command line. Telemetry is on by default and sends positional arguments - For unattended runs pass
--safety restrictedwith an allow-list, or--sandbox. Without a policy,--execrejects every tool call that needs approval - Set
max_iterationsand abudgetblock in the config. Both are unlimited by default - Run 1.130.0 or later. Earlier versions ran shell commands embedded in local skills, and A2A sessions before 1.126.0 skipped tool approval
- Review
runtime.safetyin any config pulled from a registry or URL. An author default ofautonomousruns every tool call unprompted - Pass
--auth-tokentoserve apion any non-loopback address from 1.152.0, or it won't start. Don't rely on MCP sampling, removed in 1.153.0
LlamaIndex Framework
- Set Settings.llm and Settings.embed_model explicitly so calls don't go to OpenAI by default
- Install llama-index-tools-mcp for MCP tools and pass only the allowed tools the task needs
- Use Workflow human-in-the-loop events before tools that write or send
- Pin llama-index-core to a minor version, since minors have broken APIs
- Upgrade llama-index-core to 0.13.0 or later to clear the 2025 advisories
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Docker Agent or LlamaIndex Framework?
Docker Agent scores 73.6 (BB) on agent readiness against LlamaIndex Framework's 70 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.
Are Docker Agent and LlamaIndex Framework open source?
Yes. Docker Agent is open source (Apache-2.0). LlamaIndex Framework is open source (MIT).
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/docker-agent-vs-llamaindex.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/docker-agent.json·/api/v1/tools/llamaindex.json - From a terminal
anchor compare docker-agent llamaindex(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "docker-agent", "b": "llamaindex"}at/mcp, no key