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Public story · 2026-07-21 · high
The framework that merged AutoGen and Semantic Kernel in April now packages agents as managed containers with autoscaling and identity built in.
Why now: It follows MAF's April 2 GA that merged AutoGen and Semantic Kernel, and lands in the Build 2026 release where the Claude Agent SDK integration went stable alongside Microsoft's own Copilot SDK integration.
Microsoft stabilized the Agent Harness in its Build 2026 Agent Framework release, per the framework's devblog.
The harness covers shell and filesystem access, human-in-the-loop approval, and context handling across long sessions, now at the same stability tier as skills and memory. For teams building Claude-based agents on Microsoft's infrastructure, that's the difference between an experimental API and one Microsoft has committed to keeping stable. The Claude Agent SDK integration now sits alongside Microsoft's own GitHub Copilot SDK integration in the framework.
Foundry Agent Service adds Hosted Agents on top of that. It packages your agent code as a container on managed infrastructure, handling identity, autoscaling, session state, observability, and versioning, per the devblog.
MAF hit 1.0 GA on April 2, converging AutoGen and Semantic Kernel into a single framework instead of two competing ones, per the devblog. The harness work extends that consolidation from the framework layer into how agents actually run once deployed.
Microsoft would rather host Claude-built agents on its own infrastructure than lose that workload to Anthropic. That bet holds only as long as Foundry stays the easiest place to deploy them. Watch whether the Claude Agent SDK integration stays this deep once Hosted Agents becomes the default way people ship agents on Foundry.
Each link below shares sources, entities, or timing with this story.
Microsoft released AutoGen / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Microsoft released AutoGen); both cover Agent Framework, AutoGen, Microsoft, Semantic Kernel; overlapping topics (agent, autogen).
Microsoft released AutoGen / Shared entities / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Microsoft released AutoGen); both cover AutoGen, Microsoft, Semantic Kernel; reported by the same outlet (devblogs.microsoft.com).
Microsoft released VS Code / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Microsoft released VS Code); both cover Agent Framework, Microsoft; overlapping topics (agent, claude, code, session).
Microsoft released Agent Skills API / Shared entities / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Microsoft released Agent Skills API); both cover Agent Framework, Microsoft; reported by the same outlet (devblogs.microsoft.com).
Microsoft supports MCP / Shared entities / Same source / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Microsoft supports MCP); both cover Agent Framework, Microsoft; cite the same source (Agent Framework's Build 2026 release).
Microsoft criticizes Semantic Kernel / Shared entities / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Microsoft criticizes Semantic Kernel); both cover Microsoft, Semantic Kernel; overlapping topics (access, agent, claude, code).
Microsoft supports MCP / Shared entities / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Microsoft supports MCP); both cover AutoGen, Semantic Kernel; reported by the same outlet (devblogs.microsoft.com).
Copilot Studio built by Microsoft / Shared entity: Microsoft / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Copilot Studio built by Microsoft); both cover Microsoft; reported by the same outlet (devblogs.microsoft.com).