docs(design): Add design proposal for Unified Remote Agent Abstraction#537
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yonib05 wants to merge 1 commit intostrands-agents:mainfrom
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docs(design): Add design proposal for Unified Remote Agent Abstraction#537yonib05 wants to merge 1 commit intostrands-agents:mainfrom
yonib05 wants to merge 1 commit intostrands-agents:mainfrom
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Propose MCPAgent implementing AgentBase protocol, following the pattern established by A2AAgent. Unifies MCP, A2A, and multi-agent patterns under a single programming model where protocol is a transport choice, not a different API surface.
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Summary
Design proposal for
MCPAgent— a new client-side agent class that implements the existingAgentBaseprotocol, following the same patternA2AAgentalready established. This unifies how developers interact with remote agents regardless of the underlying protocol (MCP or A2A).Motivation
The MCP 2025-11-25 spec added sampling, tasks, and elicitation — MCP servers now behave more like agents than tool providers. Meanwhile, Strands already has
A2AAgentproving that remote agents can implementAgentBaseand plug into multi-agent patterns (Swarm, Graph, Agents as Tools) seamlessly.The gap: there's no equivalent for MCP. Using a remote MCP agent looks completely different from using an A2A agent or a native Strands agent, even though conceptually it's the same thing — talking to an agent.
What this proposes
MCPAgentimplementingAgentBase, mapping MCP concepts (sampling, tasks, tools, elicitation) to__call__,invoke_async, andstream_asyncA2AAgent— explicit protocol choice at construction, unified interface after thatAgentBaseOpen questions for reviewers
MCPAgentfor a tool-only server still satisfyAgentBase, or raise at construction time?MCPAgentandA2AAgentstreaming events converge on a shared shape, or stay protocol-specific?Willingness to implement
Yes