Introducing the Agents API
2026-09-10 · OpenAI
Introducing the Agents API: A Managed Service for Cloud Agents
Overview of the Agents API
The Agents API has been officially introduced as a new managed service designed to help developers build and launch cloud agents. As a managed service, the Agents API is designed to abstract away the complexities of underlying infrastructure management. By handling the operational overhead, the platform allows developers to focus primarily on designing and implementing the logic of their cloud agents rather than worrying about the maintenance of the execution environment.
Core Engine: Powered by the Codex Harness
The underlying power and functionality of the Agents API are provided by the Codex harness. The Codex harness acts as the foundational engine that drives the service, supplying the necessary architecture and execution environment for the cloud agents to operate. By leveraging the Codex harness, the Agents API ensures that cloud agents are executed efficiently and managed effectively within the cloud infrastructure.
Key Features and Capabilities
The Agents API is equipped with several core capabilities that make it a robust solution for developing complex cloud agents:
- Orchestration: One of the primary features of the Agents API is its ability to perform orchestration. This allows developers to organize, manage, and schedule multiple tasks or operations in a highly structured manner. Orchestration is essential for complex cloud agent workflows, as it ensures that various sub-tasks are executed in the correct logical sequence, enabling the automation of intricate processes.
- Long-Running Sessions: Unlike traditional API calls that are often constrained by short timeout limits, the Agents API provides support for long-running sessions. This capability allows cloud agents to remain active and continue executing tasks over extended periods. Long-running sessions are crucial for agent tasks that require processing large volumes of data, waiting for external responses, or executing multi-step workflows that cannot be completed instantaneously.
- Tool Use: The Agents API integrates comprehensive tool use functionality. This means that the cloud agents built using this API are not limited to internal logic; they can actively call upon and utilize various external tools. By equipping agents with the ability to use tools, developers can significantly expand the functional boundaries of their agents, allowing them to interact with external systems and perform a wider array of complex operations.
Conclusion
The introduction of the Agents API provides a streamlined pathway for the development and deployment of cloud agents. Operating as a managed service powered by the Codex harness, it effectively combines three essential capabilities: orchestration, long-running sessions, and tool use. Developers can now leverage the Agents API to build and launch their cloud agents without the need to build the underlying scheduling and execution environments from scratch. This not only simplifies the development process but also provides a robust foundation for creating powerful, persistent, and automated cloud agents.