OpenAI's tools for building your own AI agents: a managed Agents API, an open Agents SDK for developers, and a few other building blocks. This is for builders, not a ready-made app.
Pricing
Prices aren't listed on OpenAI's agents guide or the Agents SDK docs (checked Oct 28, 2026), so pricing is unknown here for now.
Getting set up
According to OpenAI's docs: pick a runtime (Agents API, Agents SDK, or Responses API). For the SDK, install it with 'pip install openai-agents' and set your OPENAI_API_KEY.
The plain-English overview
Want to build your own AI agent on OpenAI's models? This isn't one app you download. It's a set of developer tools from OpenAI for building your own AI agents. Here's what OpenAI's official docs say, as of Oct 28, 2026.
OpenAI says agents can plan and finish tasks using tools, work with other agents, and keep context across steps. It gives you a few starting points, depending on how much you want to manage yourself:
- Agents API: OpenAI runs the agent for you, using its Codex harness, and saves its progress. OpenAI rates the setup effort as low. It includes multi-agent orchestration and support for MCP servers (MCP is a standard way to plug AI into other apps).
- Agents SDK: a developer toolkit that runs inside your own app. You control storage, approvals, and how it runs. OpenAI rates the effort as medium.
- Responses API: call the models directly and build everything yourself. Effort: high.
- ChatKit: for adding a chat experience to your site or app.
The Agents SDK docs describe a small set of building blocks:
- Agents: AI models with instructions and tools.
- Handoffs: agents passing work to other agents.
- Guardrails: checks on what goes in and what comes out, which can stop a run early if a check fails.
It also lists sessions (memory within a run), human-in-the-loop controls, tracing to see and debug what happened, voice agents, and sandbox agents that work in their own isolated workspace.
Who's it for? Developers, or a business owner working with one. The SDK installs with one command (pip install openai-agents) and needs an OpenAI API key.
Pricing: the agents guide and SDK docs don't list prices, so pricing is unknown here for now. Check OpenAI's own pricing page before you build.
Sources
- Agents — OpenAI API platform guide (checked Oct 28, 2026)
- OpenAI Agents SDK (Python) — official docs (checked Oct 28, 2026)
Where each fact came from
- What it can do · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — OpenAI Agents SDK (Python) — official docs
- Overview · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Agents — OpenAI API platform guide
- Where it runs · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — OpenAI Agents SDK (Python) — official docs
- Getting set up · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — OpenAI Agents SDK (Python) — official docs
- Pricing · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked often — Agents — OpenAI API platform guide
A quick note on affiliate links
If you buy through an affiliate link on this site, we may earn a commission. It doesn't cost you anything extra. Anything sponsored gets a clear label, and we never sell our rankings. Right now, no affiliate programs are connected. Here's the full affiliate disclosure.