Building agents using the ADK

You can build powerful, customizable agents using the IBM watsonx Orchestrate Agent Development Kit (ADK).

The ADK empowers developers to build, test, and deploy agents tailored to specific business needs, all within the watsonx Orchestrate platform. It supports modular design, multi-agent orchestration, and integration with external tools and frameworks.

IBM watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition

The watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition is a Windows-based package ideal for learning, prototyping, and demonstrations. It includes:

  • The watsonx Orchestrate ADK
  • A command-line interface (CLI)
  • Supports running agents locally on your laptop.

You can also connect to your watsonx Orchestrate SaaS environment using the agent builder UI.

Note: The IBM watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition does not include access to the Catalog.

IBM watsonx Orchestrate ADK

The IBM watsonx Orchestrate ADK provides a flexible and modular framework that is designed for developing and deploying AI agents. It is optimized for complex agents and multi-agent systems, providing higher-level abstractions for agent development.

It is packaged as a Python library and command line tool that allows builders to configure agents that run on the IBM watsonx Orchestrate platform. The ADK also supports integrating agents and tools that are built on other frameworks.

Install the ADK to create agents with it, see Installing the ADK.

Creating an agent

The ADK provides a set of libraries that you can use to develop agents and tools:

  • Native agents: Built directly within the ADK framework
  • External agents: Integrated from other platforms or services
  • Assistant-based agents: Derived from existing IBM watsonx Assistant instances

You can create agents using YAML, JSON, or Python files, depending on your preferred development style.

For detailed instructions on creating agents and adding tools and knowledge bases, refer Creating Agents in the IBM watsonx Orchestrate Agent Development Kit documentation.

For more information on features that are supported in watsonx Orchestrate Developer Edition and through ADK CLI, see Feature parity for agentic experience.