SkillRank verdict
Choose open-source agent frameworks by workflow style: visual automation, code-first orchestration, multi-agent collaboration, RAG/document agents, or enterprise workflow routing. Stars help discover projects, but maintainability and permission boundaries decide production fit.
Decision Matrix
Choose by workflow, risk, and fit.
The matrix turns the written comparison into a scan-friendly decision surface. It uses the same editorial comparison rows and linked model profiles.
Visual workflows
n8n, Flowise / Good for operations and integration teams
Code-first agents
AutoGen, CrewAI / Good for engineers building custom orchestrations
Retrieval agents
LlamaIndex / Good for document and knowledge workflows
Compare workflow style first
n8n and Flowise are attractive for visual workflow building. AutoGen and CrewAI are more code-oriented agent orchestration options. LlamaIndex is especially relevant for document and retrieval-heavy agent systems.
Inspect repository health
Before adopting, check recent releases, open issues, docs quality, examples, license, security policy, and how easy it is to run the project locally. A popular project can still be hard to operate.
Sandbox before connecting tools
Agent frameworks often connect to browsers, files, APIs, databases, and deployment systems. Start with scoped credentials and logs before allowing production writes.
Sources and next steps