---
title: "Installation"
source: Microsoft AutoGen
source_url: https://github.com/microsoft/autogen
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: agentic-ai
subdomain: autogen-docs
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

# Installation

Install via `.NET cli`

```sh
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.Contracts --version 0.4.0-dev.1
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.Core --version 0.4.0-dev.1
```

Or, install via `Package Manager`

```pwsh
PM> NuGet\Install-Package Microsoft.AutoGen.Contracts -Version 0.4.0-dev.1
PM> NuGet\Install-Package Microsoft.AutoGen.Core -Version 0.4.0-dev.1
```

Or, add via `<PackageReference>`

```xml
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AutoGen.Contracts" Version="0.4.0-dev.1" />
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AutoGen.Core" Version="0.4.0-dev.1" />
```

# Additional Packages

The *Core* and *Contracts* packages will give you what you need for writing and running agents using the Core API within a single process. 

- *Microsoft.AutoGen.AgentChat* - An implementation of the AgentChat package for building chat-centric agent orchestration on top of the Core SDK
- *Microsoft.AutoGen.Agents* - a package that has a small number of default agents you can use. 
- *Microsoft.AutoGen.Extensions* - Extensions to support closely related projects including Aspire, Microsoft.Extensions.AI, and Semantic Kernel

```sh
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.AgentChat --version 0.4.0-dev-1
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.Agents --version 0.4.0-dev-1
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.Extensions --version 0.4.0-dev-1
```

To enable running a system with agents in different processes that allows for x-language communication between python and .NET agents, there are additional packages:

- *Microsoft.AutoGen.Core.Grpc* - the .NET client runtime for agents in a distributed system. It has the same API as *Microsoft.AutoGen.Core*. 
- *Microsoft.AutoGen.RuntimeGatewway.Grpc* - the .NET server side of the distributed system that allows you to run multiple gateways to manage fleets of agents and enables x-language interoperability. 
- *Microsoft.AutoGen.AgentHost* - A .NET Aspire project that hosts the Grpc Service

```sh
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.Core.Grpc --version 0.4.0-dev-1
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.RuntimeGateway.Grpc --version 0.4.0-dev-1
dotnet add package Microsoft.AutoGen.AgentHost --version 0.4.0-dev-1
```
