---
type: entity
subtype: tool
title: "CrewAI"
description: "Multi-agent framework named as one of the interchangeable backends AG-UI supports."
resource: "https://www.crewai.com"
tags: [agent-framework, multi-agent, python]
videos: [ag-ui-just-released-the-new-wave-of-ai-agent-apps, google-anthropic-and-openais-guides-to-ai-agents-all-in-18-minutes, openais-brand-new-agents-sdk-crash-course]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# CrewAI

CrewAI is a Python multi-agent framework for building teams of role-playing agents that collaborate on a task. In Cole's catalog it appears as a recognized peer to his own stack rather than a tool he builds on directly, most often named as one of the interchangeable backends an application can sit on top of. When covering AG-UI, he lists it alongside his favorite: "We can use libraries like CrewAI or Pydantic AI. And I'm not using those in this case, but you very easily could" [0:16:09]. That interchangeability is the point, AG-UI and similar front-end protocols do not care which [agent framework](../../concepts/agent-teams.md) produced the agent, so CrewAI is a valid backend even though Cole reaches for Pydantic AI and LangGraph himself.

It also shows up when he surveys the broader ecosystem. Summarizing the major vendor guides to agents, he groups it with the other well-known options, "Agno, CrewAI, small agents from Hugging Face" [0:16:14], placing it among the frameworks a builder should know exist. His most direct evaluative note comes from the OpenAI Agents SDK crash course, where he ranks OpenAI's new SDK above it: "I do like it more than CrewAI and LangChain" [0:28:35]. That is a relative preference, not a dismissal, CrewAI remains one of the standard multi-agent frameworks, particularly for [agent teams](../../concepts/agent-teams.md) with defined roles, [guardrails](../../concepts/guardrails.md), and built-in [memory](../../concepts/memory-systems.md).

Because Cole treats it as an alternative he name-checks rather than a tool he demonstrates line by line, the useful takeaway is positioning: CrewAI competes in the same multi-agent orchestration space as LangGraph and the OpenAI Agents SDK, and its provider-flexible design lets it slot behind the same UI protocols.

## Realizes

- [Agent Teams](../../concepts/agent-teams.md) - Coordinating multiple specialized agents, via orchestrators, routers, and handoffs, to solve a task no single agent handles well.
- [Memory Systems](../../concepts/memory-systems.md) - Giving agents durable short- and long-term memory so conversations, user context, and facts persist across sessions and users.
- [Guardrails](../../concepts/guardrails.md) - Constraints and checks that keep agents from hallucinating, going off the rails, or emitting unsafe output.
- [Human in the Loop](../../concepts/human-in-the-loop.md) - Keeping a human as the approver and steerer of agentic work rather than fully automating, so AI augments engineers instead of replacing them.
- [Agent Observability](../../concepts/agent-observability.md) - Instrumenting agents with tracing, logging, and cost/token metrics so you can see and debug what they actually did.
- [Provider Independence](../../concepts/provider-independence.md) - Architecting agents so the underlying model, framework, or client can be swapped without a rewrite, avoiding lock-in through low-level abstractions.

## Contrasts with

- [LangGraph](./langgraph.md) - The orchestration framework wiring agents into a stateful graph of nodes and edges, used to run agents in parallel and add human-in-the-loop.
- [OpenAI Agents SDK](./openai-agents-sdk.md) - OpenAI's agent framework, which their guide leans on heavily with code examples; Cole ranks it above CrewAI.
- [OpenAI Swarm](./openai-swarm.md) - OpenAI's experimental multi-agent framework for building teams of agents that hand off to each other; defaults to OpenAI models but accepts a custom client.
- [Pydantic AI](./pydantic-ai.md) - Cole's framework for the individual agents, named interchangeably with CrewAI as an AG-UI backend but the one he reaches for instead.
- [smolagents](./smolagents.md) - Hugging Face's minimal agent framework whose base agent executes actions through generated code, used here to build an entire agentic RAG workflow in very little code.

## Works with

- [AG-UI](./ag-ui.md) - Open protocol (by the CopilotKit team) that standardizes connecting AI agents to front ends via emitted events; accepts CrewAI as one of its backends.

## Sources

- [AG-UI Just Released: The NEW WAVE of AI Agent Apps](../../sources/ag-ui-just-released-the-new-wave-of-ai-agent-apps.md) - "[0:16:09] We can use libraries like CrewAI or Pydantic AI. And I'm not using those in this case, but you very easily could"
- [Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI's Guides to AI Agents ALL in 18 Minutes](../../sources/google-anthropic-and-openais-guides-to-ai-agents-all-in-18-minutes.md) - "[0:16:14] Agno CrewAI small agents from Hugging Face"
- [OpenAI's BRAND NEW Agents SDK (Crash Course)](../../sources/openais-brand-new-agents-sdk-crash-course.md) - "[0:28:35] I do like it more than CrewAI and LangChain"
