rwjdk/agent-framework-samples: A C# Sample Set for the Microsoft Agent Framework
Samples demonstrating the Microsoft Agent Framework in C#
At a glance
- What is it?
- This repository is a teaching companion for a YouTube series and a paid Udemy course on the Microsoft Agent Framework in C#. It is useful as a guided tour of AF concepts, but it is not a library, not a starter template you would ship, and not a substitute for the upstream framework's own documentation.
- Who is it for?
- Adopt this repository if you are learning the Microsoft Agent Framework in C# and want a video-paced walkthrough that pairs each concept with runnable code, and if you accept that the material is tied to a YouTube playlist and a Udemy course rather than to a versioned release. Do not adopt it as a dependency, as a production scaffold, or as a source of API guarantees, because the README describes it as samples and points elsewhere for the end-to-end example.
- Can I use it commercially?
- Yes. MIT is a permissive licence: you can use, modify and sell software built on it, as long as you keep its copyright and licence notices.
- Is it still maintained?
- Yes. The repository last received commits 3 days ago.
- What is it written in?
- Mainly C#, according to GitHub's language statistics.
Answers come from the project's GitHub data, last synced on September 15, 2026, and from our analysis. They are not legal advice.
DEEP OPEN-SOURCE ANALYSIS
What This Repository Is Actually For
The README states the purpose plainly: it is a set of samples demonstrating the Microsoft Agent Framework in C#. The framework itself is described as the successor to Semantic Kernel and AutoGen, two earlier Microsoft generative AI frameworks, and as usable from both C# and Python. This repository explores C# only, which is the first constraint worth internalising. If you are working in Python, nothing here applies to you except the conceptual shape of the samples. The intended reader is a C# developer who has heard of the Agent Framework, wants to see it in motion before committing to it, and prefers learning from a sequence of small programs over reading API reference pages. The README also names a Udemy course and a YouTube playlist as the accompanying instruction, which tells you the repository is designed to be consumed alongside narration, not on its own. That is a meaningful design choice, and it shapes everything about how you should evaluate the code inside. A sample set written to be explained on video can leave gaps that a written tutorial would have to fill, because the presenter fills them verbally. Read the code with that expectation and you will not be surprised when a sample assumes context that is not in the file.
How the Samples Are Organised and What They Assume
From the repository metadata, the project is C# with the default branch set to main, and the README points to a YouTube playlist as the home for all samples in the repository. The README does not describe a solution layout, a project structure, or a list of sample names, so any claim about how many samples exist or what each one demonstrates would be invention. What can be said is structural: the README treats the samples as a set that maps onto the video series, and it explicitly notes that the Comic Book end-to-end sample has been moved out to a separate repository, rwjdk/AIExample-ComicBookStore, to make it easier to maintain. That move is the most informative detail in the README. It tells you the author separates the large, integrated example from the small, concept-focused ones, and it tells you that if you came looking for a full application built on the Agent Framework, this is not the repository that holds it. The maintenance rationale given is maintainability, which is a reasonable reason to split a repository, but it also means the sample set here is the shallow end: individual demonstrations of framework features rather than a single coherent application with persistence, configuration, and deployment concerns handled end to end.
Getting the Samples Running
The README does not include installation instructions, a prerequisites section, or a list of configuration keys. It links to the Microsoft Agent Framework repository at github.com/microsoft/agent-framework, and that is where the framework's own setup guidance lives. The practical path is therefore: clone this repository, read the linked framework repository for how the Agent Framework is packaged and configured, and follow the YouTube playlist in order so that the samples you run match the explanation you just watched. Because the README gives no configuration keys, no environment variable names, and no model provider setup, you should not expect to find them documented here. If a sample requires an API key or a model endpoint, that requirement will be visible in the sample's own code or in the video, not in the README. This is the single biggest practical friction in the repository, and it is worth stating plainly rather than glossing over: a sample repository without a setup section shifts the burden of figuring out prerequisites onto the viewer, and the video becomes load-bearing documentation. If the video and the code drift apart, you have no written fallback in this repository. Check the sample's project file and source before running anything, and treat the video as the authoritative explanation only as long as it matches what is on main.
The Maintenance Model Is a Course, Not a Release
The repository has no releases retrieved, and the README does not describe a versioning scheme, a compatibility matrix, or a support policy. Instead it points to a Udemy course and a YouTube playlist. That is a coherent model for teaching material, and it is also the source of its main risk. When the Microsoft Agent Framework changes, a sample repository tied to recorded video has two options: update the code and accept that the video is now stale, or leave the code matching the video and accept that the code is now behind the framework. Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you are looking at before you build on a sample. The repository is not archived, and the last push recorded is 2026-09-06, so there is recent activity, but activity is not the same as a compatibility guarantee. The honest framing is that this is instructional content with code attached, and instructional content ages on the schedule of the framework it teaches, not on the schedule of the repository. If you need code that tracks the framework's API surface, the upstream microsoft/agent-framework repository is the place to look, because that is where the API is defined and where breaking changes are announced.
Where This Repository Is the Wrong Tool
There are three cases where reaching for this repository will cost you time. The first is if you want a production starting point. Samples are written to isolate one idea at a time, which means error handling, retries, logging, configuration management, and dependency injection wiring are typically minimal or absent, because those concerns would obscure the concept being demonstrated. Building a service on top of sample code means writing all of that yourself, and at that point the samples have given you orientation rather than a foundation. The second case is if you are not following the video series. The README ties every sample to the playlist, and without that narration you are reading code with missing context, which is a slower way to learn than reading the upstream documentation. The third case is if you need the end-to-end example. The Comic Book sample moved to rwjdk/AIExample-ComicBookStore, so anyone who bookmarked the old location or expects a full application here will find a pointer instead. None of these are defects in the repository; they are consequences of what it is. The failure mode is not that the samples are bad, it is that a reader mistakes a teaching aid for a toolkit and then wonders why nothing is wired together.
The Alternative: Go Straight to microsoft/agent-framework
The README itself links to github.com/microsoft/agent-framework, and that is the real alternative, not a competing third-party library. The difference in approach is straightforward. This repository shows the framework through small, narrated examples aimed at a learner moving through a video series in order. The upstream repository is the framework itself: it is where the API is defined, where the C# and Python surfaces are documented, and where changes originate. If you want to understand a specific class or method, the upstream source and its documentation answer the question directly, while a sample answers it indirectly by showing one usage in one context. The trade-off runs the other way too. Upstream documentation tells you what an API does but not what a first program should look like, and that is exactly the gap a sample set fills. The sensible combination is to use this repository for the first hour, to see the shape of an agent application in C#, and then move to the upstream repository for anything you intend to keep. Treating the samples as the primary reference inverts the relationship and leaves you dependent on a teaching artifact for questions it was never built to answer.
Licence and What You Are Actually Taking On
This repository is MIT licensed, which is permissive and places few restrictions on how you reuse the sample code. Two caveats are worth separating. First, the MIT licence here covers the sample code in this repository; it does not extend to the Microsoft Agent Framework, which is a separate project with its own licence, nor to any model provider or package the samples call. If you copy a sample into your own project, you are responsible for the licences of everything that sample pulls in. Second, the README promotes a Udemy course with a referral link and a YouTube playlist. That is a commercial arrangement around free code, and it is worth naming because it explains the repository's shape: the code exists to support the course, and the course is the product. This is not a criticism, and it does not change the MIT terms on the code, but it does mean the repository's update cadence is likely driven by course and video production rather than by a release schedule. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice; if licence compatibility matters for your organisation, check the upstream framework's licence and your dependencies directly rather than relying on the MIT label on a sample repository.
Who Should Clone This and Who Should Not
Clone it if you are a C# developer who learns by watching and then typing, and you want to see the Microsoft Agent Framework in small pieces before you commit to it in a real project. Follow the playlist in order, run each sample against the framework version it was written for, and expect to consult the upstream repository whenever a sample leaves a question open. Do not clone it if you need a maintained dependency, a versioned release, a production scaffold, or the end-to-end Comic Book application, which now lives at rwjdk/AIExample-ComicBookStore. The repository does not claim to be any of those things, and the README is unusually clear about the split. The one thing to verify before you invest time is version alignment: confirm that the framework packages the samples reference are the ones you can install today, because nothing in the README promises that the code on main matches the current framework release, and the video series cannot be patched after the fact.
Editorial conclusion
Adopt this repository if you are learning the Microsoft Agent Framework in C# and want a video-paced walkthrough that pairs each concept with runnable code, and if you accept that the material is tied to a YouTube playlist and a Udemy course rather than to a versioned release. Do not adopt it as a dependency, as a production scaffold, or as a source of API guarantees, because the README describes it as samples and points elsewhere for the end-to-end example. Before you start, verify three things: that the sample you want still exists in the repository rather than in the separate Comic Book store repository, that the Microsoft Agent Framework package versions referenced by the samples match what you plan to install, and that the licence terms of the upstream framework and its dependencies are acceptable for your use, since this repository's MIT licence covers only the sample code here.
Community notes