Comparison with Claude Agent SDK and Codex

Compare LangChain Deep Agents with Claude Agent SDK and Codex SDK to choose the right tool for your use case

This page helps you understand how LangChain Deep Agents compare to the Claude Agent SDK and the Codex SDK.

Deep Agents is used in production by OpenSWE and LangSmith Fleet.

Overview

Aspect	LangChain Deep Agents	Claude Agent SDK	Codex SDK
Use cases	Custom general-purpose agents (including coding)	Custom AI coding agents	Prebuilt coding agent that can execute coding tasks
Model support	Flexible and model-agnostic (Anthropic, OpenAI, and 100s others)	Tightly integrated with Claude models (Anthropic, Azure, Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock)	Tightly integrated with OpenAI models (GPT-5.3-Codex and variants)
Architecture	Python SDK, TypeScript SDK, and CLI	Python SDK, TypeScript SDK	TypeScript SDK, CLI, desktop app, IDE extension, cloud interface
Execution environment	Local, remote sandboxes, virtual filesystem	Local	Local, cloud
Deployment	LangGraph Platform	Self-hosted	N/A
Frontend	Integration with React	Server-side only	Server-side only
Observability	LangSmith tracing & evaluations	N/A	OpenAI traces & command-line evaluations
Security configurability	Composable, per-tool human-in-the-loop	Permission system with modes, rules and hooks	Built-in tiers using approval modes and OS-level sandboxes
License	MIT	MIT (underlying Claude Code is proprietary)	Apache-2.0

Key differences

LangChain Deep Agents:

• Model flexibility: Swap model providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, or 100+ others) at any time and run evaluations.
• Long-term memory: Persist context across sessions and threads with the Memory Store
• Sandbox-as-tool pattern: Run individual operations in isolated sandboxes from different providers while the agent runs outside, or run the full agent inside a sandbox
• Virtual filesystem: Use pluggable backends (in-memory, disk, durable stores, sandboxes) for context and checkpoint management
• Production deployment: Deploy via LangSmith or self-host with the Agent Server
• Observability: Use LangSmith for native tracing and debugging

Claude Agent SDK:

• Standardize on Claude: First-class support for Claude models across Anthropic, Azure, Vertex AI, and AWS Bedrock
• Custom hosting: Build your own HTTP/WebSocket layer and run the SDK in containers
• Hooks: Easily intercept and control agent behavior

Codex SDK:

• Standardize on OpenAI: GPT-5.3-Codex and OpenAI-specific tooling
• OS-level sandbox modes: Use built-in read-only, workspace-write, or danger-full-access modes
• MCP server mode: Expose your agent as an MCP server with codex mcp-server
• Observability: Use OpenAI Traces

Feature comparison

Feature	Deep Agents	Claude Agent SDK	Codex SDK
Core tools
File Read/Write/Edit	✅ read_file, write_file, edit_file	✅ Read, write, edit	✅ Read, write, edit
Shell Execution	✅ execute	✅ bash	✅ exec
Glob/Grep	✅ glob, grep	✅ glob, grep	✅ Built-in
Web Search	✅ support for third-party and provider-native	✅ WebSearch, WebFetch	✅ web_search
Planning/Todos	✅ write_todos	✅ Todo lists	✅ Plan before changes
Subagents	✅ Subagents	✅ Subagents	✅ Multi-agent workflows (experimental) via MCP + Agents SDK
MCP Client	✅	✅ MCP	✅ MCP client
Human-in-the-Loop	✅ Approve/edit/reject	✅ Permission modes	✅ Approval modes (Full Access, Read-only, Auto)
Skills System	✅ Skills	✅ Skills	✅ Skills
Additional instructions	✅ Memory	✅ CLAUDE.md files	✅ AGENTS.md
Long-term memory	✅ Memory Store	❌	❌
Streaming	✅ Streaming	✅ Streaming	✅ Streaming
Sandbox Integrations
Agent runs in sandbox	✅ Can run in sandbox	✅ Can run in sandbox	✅ Can run in sandbox
Agent runs operations in sandboxes	✅ Uses sandboxes as tools	❌	❌
OS-level sandbox modes	❌	❌	✅ read-only, workspace-write, and danger-full-access
Architecture
Composable Middleware	✅	✅ Hooks	❌
Virtual Filesystems	✅ Virtual filesystem with pluggable backends	❌	❌
Deployment
Production hosting	✅ LangGraph Platform, self-hosted, or standalone	Build your own HTTP/WebSocket layer; run SDK in containers	❌
Local execution environment	✅	✅	✅
Cloud execution environment	❌	❌	✅
Supported protocols
ACP server (IDE integration)	✅ ACP server	✅ (third-party)	✅ (third-party)
MCP server mode	MCP endpoint through Agent Server	❌	✅ codex mcp-server
A2A endpoint	✅ A2A endpoint in Agent Server	✅	❌
State management
Session Resume	✅	✅ Session management	✅ Resume threads; SDK resumeThread()
File Checkpointing	✅ Backends and checkpoints	✅ File checkpointing	✅ Git checkpoints
Time Travel (state branching)	✅	✅	✅
Observability
Native Tracing	✅ LangSmith	❌	✅ OpenAI Traces
Evaluations	✅ LangSmith	❌	Evals patterns (Command-line with codex exec --json)

Notice a mistake?

We drafted this comparison on March 4th, 2026. If you notice mistakes or changes in products, please file an issue.

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