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I’ll search for the most current information about Google’s agentic development SDK.# Google Agent Development Kit (ADK): A Comprehensive Introduction

Google’s Agent Development Kit (ADK) is a flexible, modular, open-source framework for developing and deploying AI agents. Announced at Google Cloud NEXT 2025, it’s designed to make building sophisticated multi-agent systems feel more like traditional software development.

What is ADK?

While optimized for Gemini and the Google ecosystem, ADK is model-agnostic and deployment-agnostic, built for compatibility with other frameworks. The framework powers agents within Google products like Agentspace and Google Customer Engagement Suite, and Google has now open-sourced it for developers.

Key Features

Multi-Language Support: ADK is available in Python, TypeScript, Go, and Java, allowing developers to work in their preferred language.

Multi-Agent Orchestration: Define workflows using workflow agents (Sequential, Parallel, Loop) for predictable pipelines, or leverage LLM-driven dynamic routing for adaptive behavior. Build modular, scalable applications by composing multiple specialized agents in a hierarchy.

Model Flexibility: Built-in integration with LiteLLM and Vertex AI Model Garden supports a variety of models, not just Gemini.

Built-in Development Tools: Includes a development UI to help test, evaluate, debug, and showcase agents.

Bidirectional Streaming: Supports bidirectional streaming for real-time agent interactions.

A2A Protocol Support: Integrates with the A2A protocol for remote agent-to-agent communication.

Getting Started

Installation is straightforward across languages:

Python: pip install google-adk
TypeScript: npm install @google/adk
Go: go get google.golang.org/adk
Java: Add dependency via Maven or Gradle

Here’s a simple Python example:

from google.adk.agents import Agent
from google.adk.tools import google_search

root_agent = Agent(
    name="search_assistant",
    model="gemini-2.5-flash",
    instruction="You are a helpful assistant. Answer user questions using Google Search when needed.",
    description="An assistant that can search the web.",
    tools=[google_search]
)

Multi-Agent Patterns

ADK supports several patterns for building multi-agent systems:

Sub-Agents: Create hierarchies where a coordinator agent manages specialized sub-agents. However, when the root agent calls a sub-agent, responsibility is transferred completely to that sub-agent, which can limit multi-step workflows.

Agent Tools: A more powerful pattern treats specialized agents as tools in the root agent’s toolbox, allowing it to reason about complex queries and use multiple agents to complete tasks.

Google Cloud Integration

ADK agents are recommended for deployment to Vertex AI Agent Engine Runtime, a fully managed Google Cloud service specifically designed for deploying, managing, and scaling AI agents. This provides enterprise-grade infrastructure with access to over 100 pre-built connectors, integration with BigQuery, AlloyDB, and other Google Cloud services.

ADK vs. Other Frameworks

Compared to Genkit (Google’s other framework), ADK is optimized for complex agents and multi-agent systems with higher-level abstractions, while Genkit provides fundamental building blocks for a wider variety of AI-powered experiences.

Resources

ADK represents Google’s vision for making agentic AI development more accessible, combining the flexibility of open-source software with deep integration into Google’s AI and cloud ecosystem.

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