Swarm by OpenAI

Paid

Educational framework for lightweight, ergonomic multi-agent orchestration.

5.0

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Type

Saas

Company

OpenAI

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About Swarm by OpenAI

Swarm is an experimental, educational open-source framework by OpenAI for exploring lightweight, ergonomic multi-agent orchestration. It focuses on making agent coordination and execution highly controllable, easily testable, and scalable through two primitive abstractions: Agents (which encompass instructions and tools) and handoffs (where an Agent can transfer a conversation to another Agent). Entirely powered by the Chat Completions API, Swarm is stateless between calls and runs almost entirely on the client. It is best suited for situations involving a large number of independent capabilities and instructions that are difficult to encode into a single prompt. Note: Swarm is now replaced by the OpenAI Agents SDK, which is a production-ready evolution; migration is recommended for production use.

Key Features

Two primitive abstractions: Agents and handoffs

Lightweight and highly controllable agent coordination

Easily testable and scalable

Powered entirely by the Chat Completions API

Stateless between calls (no stored state)

Runs almost entirely on the client

Supports function calling and context variables

Requires Python 3.10+

Includes examples for basic usage, triage, weather, airline customer service, and support bot

Pros & Cons

Pros

Lightweight and scalable by design
Highly customizable and controllable
Easily testable due to simple abstractions
Free and open-source under MIT license
Good for learning and experimentation

Cons

Experimental and educational – not intended for production use
Replaced by OpenAI Agents SDK for production
Stateless – no built-in memory management or retrieval
Requires Python 3.10+ and manual Git-based installation

Best For

Exploring multi-agent orchestration patternsHandling large numbers of independent capabilities and instructionsBuilding customer service workflows with agent handoffs (e.g., airline support)Educational resource for learning about multi-agent systemsLightweight prototyping of agent coordination

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FAQ

What is Swarm?

Swarm is an experimental, educational open-source framework by OpenAI for exploring lightweight, ergonomic multi-agent orchestration. It uses Agents and handoffs as its core abstractions.

How is Swarm related to the OpenAI Assistants API?

Swarm Agents are not related to Assistants in the Assistants API. They are named similarly for convenience but are otherwise completely unrelated. Swarm is powered by the Chat Completions API.

Is Swarm production-ready?

No. Swarm is experimental and educational. It has been replaced by the OpenAI Agents SDK, which is a production-ready evolution. OpenAI recommends migrating to the Agents SDK for all production use cases.

How do I install Swarm?

Swarm requires Python 3.10+ and can be installed via pip using: pip install git+ssh://git@github.com/openai/swarm.git or pip install git+https://github.com/openai/swarm.git