# Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)

8 Hacker News commenters recommended Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Developers recommend it as a solid open-source framework for building agents across Python, TypeScript, Go and Java. Common caveat: Python dependency management is painful.

## Why people recommend it

- Solid framework with building blocks (5 comments): "A good framework will give you building blocks and flexibility in how you use these and how that happens." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46396221)) "Generally very optimistic that I found a solid foundation and framework" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46017907)) "Great framework, happy user with my personal agent stack" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47864560))
- Handles orchestration and bookkeeping for you (5 comments): "It's my "kubernetes for agents" from this perspective of abstractions and common task management handled by the system." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47030157)) "ADK certainly addresses all of the points you have in the post." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47490947)) "Any framework worth it's muster is already handling this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47046253))
- Easy to build with quickly (3 comments): "Building a full, custom agent setup is surprisingly easy and a great learning experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46844952)) "am quite impressed after a week of test driving" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46001981)) "I've come quite far in just a week with ADK" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46017675))
- Open source, cloud or local models (2 comments): "is really fun to play with. It's open source and supports both using a LLM in the cloud and running locally." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45846425)) "I'm building my custom agent on their open source Agent Development Kit and the Gemini family." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46850458))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Claude Agent SDK](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-agent-sdk.md): 36 recommend
- [LangChain](https://hackerapproved.com/p/langchain.md): 32 recommend
- [Mastra](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastra.md): 32 recommend
- [LangGraph](https://hackerapproved.com/p/langgraph.md): 31 recommend
- [DSPy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dspy.md): 29 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/agent-development-kit/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).