Pydantic AI vs OpenHands Software Agent SDK
The OpenHands Software Agent SDK is a Python SDK for agents that work with code, and the engine behind the OpenHands CLI and Cloud: an agent loop with terminal, file-editing and browser tools, workspaces on your machine or in Docker, and an agent server to run them remotely. In Pydantic AI, a coding agent is one configuration of a general Agent, so the same sandboxes, skills and sub-agents serve whatever else you build on it.
Pydantic AI is one part of a stack: the Harness SDK for capabilities and complete agents, Pydantic Evals for evaluation, Pydantic Graph for graph-based workflows, Pydantic Logfire for observability, and Pydantic itself for validation. The tables below cover the whole of it.
| OpenHands Software Agent SDK | Pydantic AI and Harness SDK | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Python | Python |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Model providers | Many, via LiteLLM | Many |
| Extensibility | Tools, hooks, plugins | Capabilities and toolsets; 80+ with the Harness SDK |
| Harnesses | Coding agent, composed from its tools | Built-in Coder and Researcher, or compose your own |
| Observability | OpenTelemetry | OpenTelemetry, including Pydantic Logfire |
| Enterprise support | With OpenHands Enterprise | For the framework itself, no platform required |
| Durable execution | Conversation persistence only | Nine integrations |
| Interfaces | Agent server (REST, WebSocket, TypeScript client), CLI, ACP client | CLI, web chat, AG-UI, Vercel AI, ACP (experimental), GitHub Agentic Workflows |
| Realtime voice | No | Realtime |
| Evals | Coding benchmarks, in a separate repository | Pydantic Evals |
| Image generation | No | Image Generation |
| OpenHands Software Agent SDK | Pydantic AI and Harness SDK | |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-agent | Yes | Subagents, delegation, or pydantic-graph |
| Planning | Yes | Planning |
| Skills | Yes | Skills |
| Memory | Yes | Memory |
| Compaction | Yes | Compaction |
| Guardrails | Yes | Guardrails |
| Code sandboxes | Yes | Execution environments |
| Browser use | Yes | Web & research |
Can I build my own coding agent harness? Yes. Give your agent the
Coder() capability, or assemble your own from the
same Agent; the harness repository has a
complete coding agent
built from the pieces Coder puts together.
Can I run my agents in CI? Yes. GitHub Agentic Workflows runs Pydantic AI agents
from a Markdown workflow file in GitHub Actions, or run a Python script directly with uv run;
nothing requires an Action.
Last checked: 2026-10-30