akillness 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.