WEBVTT

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Before we dive into code, let's talk about

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what Microsoft Agent Framework is.

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Overall, it's a free, open-source NuGet package

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from Microsoft to work with large language models

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and to make it easier to interact with

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them.

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And also to switch between different providers so

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you're not stuck with one provider.

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It is similar to other frameworks like LangChain

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and can be consumed either using C#

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or Python.

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In this course, we will focus on the

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C Sharp version.

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It is quite a new framework as it

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released in preview in October 2025 and is

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set to be generally available in Q1 of

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2026.

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Let's have a look at the overall components,

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of which there are two.

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The first, of course, given the name, is

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the agents.

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Agents are entities that are given prompts or

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data as input, either from a user or

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some kind of event, for example, a schedule

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or a webhook.

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It will then use tools in terms of

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additional data retrieval tools to get more data

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on the fly or use action-based tools,

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example, placing an order in ERP system or

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call an API endpoint.

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Second smaller part of the framework is its

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workflow component.

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It consists of a workflow engine where you

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can compose a sequence of predefined operations with

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AI involved, or you can make it entirely

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of agents and then it will become an

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agentic workflow.

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In this course, the agent part is the

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main focus, but we will touch on the

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workflow part at the end.

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For a bit more context and dependencies, Agent

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Framework is an evolution from a previous Microsoft

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product called Semantic Kernel.

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If you have heard about it and thinking,

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what is the difference, you can sort of

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see Agent Framework as a Semantic Kernel 2

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.0 with more modern ways of working and

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a much more advanced way of doing stuff.

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Underneath Microsoft Agent Framework, we have the Microsoft

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Extensions AI layer.

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This is a much more lower level framework

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from Microsoft as well, and it handles the

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raw communication with the various LLM providers.

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I've only listed a few of the providers

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here, there's much more, and the framework can

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in general work with literally everything as long

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as it just supports the iChat client interface.