google-adk

google-adk

Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) is a leading agent sdk in the 2026 AI agent engineering landscape (20.4k★).

When to use this skill

Code-first Python framework for building, evaluating, and deploying agents (ADK 2.0)
LlmAgent + workflow agents (Sequential, Parallel, Loop) for deterministic orchestration
Multi-agent hierarchies with delegation and transfer
Rich tool ecosystem: built-in tools, OpenAPI, MCP, third-party libraries
adk web dev UI, adk run CLI, adk eval built-in evaluation
Deploy to Vertex AI Agent Engine, Cloud Run, GKE; A2A integration for cross-agent calls
Ecosystem overlap: agents-cli (this repo) covers the Google Cloud deploy/eval CLI toolchain around agents — google-adk covers the framework/programming model itself; pairs like SDK vs CLI

Installation

pip install google-adk

Core API

from google.adk import Agent

root_agent = Agent(
    name="greeting_agent",
    model="gemini-2.5-flash",
    instruction="You are a helpful assistant. Greet the user warmly.",
)
# adk web  -> dev UI; adk run  -> CLI; adk eval -> evaluation

Instructions

Step 1: Initialize the environment

Verify you have Python installed and set up properly. Use the correct package manager (pip, npm, pnpm, uv) as specified in the installation section.

Step 2: Establish the agent flow

Architecture pattern: Composable agent tree: LLM agents for reasoning, workflow agents for control flow; model-agnostic via LiteLLM though optimized for Gemini; events/sessions/state services pluggable

Step 3: Implement tool integrations and policies

Integrate necessary tools, environment keys, and safety gates according to your architectural needs. Position in the ecosystem: Google's canonical agent SDK, powering Agentspace and Vertex agents; alternatives: openai-agents-python, microsoft agent-framework (both covered in jeo-skills)

Examples

Example 1: Minimal Agent Run

from google.adk import Agent

root_agent = Agent(
    name="greeting_agent",
    model="gemini-2.5-flash",
    instruction="You are a helpful assistant. Greet the user warmly.",
)
# adk web  -> dev UI; adk run  -> CLI; adk eval -> evaluation

Best practices

Follow the primary installation commands for Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) to ensure dependencies are resolved correctly.
Configure model providers and API keys securely before starting the runtime.
Use appropriate sandboxing or permission isolation if executing AI-generated code.

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