Knowledge Base · Comparison
How smolagents’ CodeAgent and ToolCallingAgent differ in how they act, their strengths and risks, and when to choose each.
smolagents gives you two ways for an agent to act — write code or emit structured tool calls. They behave very differently in power, predictability, and safety. This guide helps you choose.
In smolagents, agents differ mainly in how they express actions. A CodeAgent writes executable Python as its action — it can chain logic, do computation, and compose tool calls in one step, which is expressive and often more efficient for multi-step reasoning. The catch is that it executes model-written code, so it must run in a sandbox (E2B, Modal, Docker, or restricted environments) and demands careful security thinking. A ToolCallingAgent instead emits structured tool calls (JSON), like classic function calling: more constrained and predictable, easier to validate and gate, and a natural fit for well-defined tools and MCP integrations. The choice: CodeAgent for complex, computation-heavy tasks where you can sandbox safely; ToolCallingAgent for controlled, auditable actions against defined tools. Both share the same tools, model abstraction, and multi-agent orchestration. Note smolagents APIs are still stabilizing (pre-2.0). This guide covers the trade-offs, sandboxing, and how to pick.
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