Strands Agents v0.2.0 Release 7/2/2025

[Unshure]

Hi, everyone! We completed a minor version release for the SDK, tools and docs.

• Docs: https://strandsagents.com/0.2.x/
• https://pypi.org/project/strands-agents/0.2.0/#description
• https://pypi.org/project/strands-agents-tools/0.1.8/#description

For this minor version bump, we are introducing a number of backwards-incompatible changes. Leading up to the 1.0.0 release of the SDK, we are incrementally releasing backwards-incompatible changes to align with our vision of the 1.0.0 interface. These changes are meant to fix deficiencies that were part of our initial implementation, or to make Strands easier to understand and use. Below are a list of these changes, and steps to migrate your code if they affect you:

• Use region from boto3 session when possible (#299)
  • This change updates the region behavior of the BedrockModelProvider to better align with the Boto3 default region behavior instead of us-west-2.
• refactor: remove kwargs spread after agent call (#289)
  • Previously, strands used certain parameters that were passed into the agent invocation call. For example, agent("Hello!", system_prompt="Some New Prompt") would previously override the system prompt defined during the agent’s initialization. Now, this behavior has been removed, so you can alter the agent’s system prompt by overriding the agents system_prompt attribute.
    • Before: agent("Hello!", system_prompt="Some New Prompt")
    • After: agent.system_prompt = "Some New Prompt"
• Remove FunctionTool (#325)
  • Previously, FunctionTool was deprecated in favor of DecoratedFunctionTool but it was kept in for backwards compatibility. This removes the FunctionTool class in favor of using the @tool decorator. Check out the strands agents tool documentation for building a tool.
• Implement native async iterator support (#83)
  • #295: We no longer yield any callback events carried out in tool invocations from stream_async.
  • #323: callback_handler is no longer passed to tools.
• refactor tracer (#286)
  • The OTEL setup process has changed. Before, Strands would try to automatically setup and OTEL exporter using the STRANDS_OTEL_ENABLE_CONSOLE_EXPORT environment variable. This has been removed, and replaced with a function call. See the docs here for more info: https://strandsagents.com/latest/user-guide/observability-evaluation/traces/#code-configuration

For details on the changes, please refer to the release notes:

• sdk-python
• tools

[Unshure]

sdk-python

• iterative event loop by @pgrayy in iterative event loop #268
• Add additional exception information for common bedrock errors by @zastrowm in Add additional exception information for common bedrock errors #290
• iterative structured output by @pgrayy in iterative structured output #291
• fix: correcting incorrect docstring in tracer.py - non-existing argument documented by @didier-durand in fix: correcting incorrect docstring in tracer.py - non-existing argument documented #293
• tools - do not remove $defs by @pgrayy in tools - do not remove $defs #294
• feat: Add reasoning content for openai model provider by @xiehust in feat: Add reasoning content for openai model provider #187
• chore: refactor tracer by @poshinchen in chore: refactor tracer #286
• iterative agent by @pgrayy in iterative agent #295
• feat(a2a): tools as skills by @jer96 in feat(a2a): tools as skills #287
• feat: Add Mistral model support to strands by @siddhantwaghjale in feat: Add Mistral model support to strands #284
• fix: Fix docs warnings by @Unshure in fix: Fix docs warnings #303
• Use region from boto3 session when possible by @zastrowm in Use region from boto3 session when possible #299
• chore: update spanKind and attributes for tokens by @poshinchen in chore: update spanKind and attributes for tokens #296
• fix: Migrate Mistral structured_output to an iterator by @zastrowm in fix: Migrate Mistral structured_output to an iterator #305
• feat: add debug logging for model converse requests by @RingoIngo2 in feat: add debug logging for model converse requests #297
• refactor: remove kwargs spread after agent call by @Unshure in refactor: remove kwargs spread after agent call #289
• chore: allow custom tracer_provider and chain setup by @poshinchen in chore: allow custom tracer_provider and chain setup #316
• feat: Add reproduction test for [BUG] OpenAI provider cannot use tools that return images #320 by @zastrowm in feat: Add reproduction test for #320 #322
• feat: Agent State by @Unshure in feat: Agent State #292
• stop passing around callback handler by @pgrayy in stop passing around callback handler #323
• refactor: Remove unused code by @Unshure in refactor: Remove unused code #326
• chore: updated semantic conventions on Generative AI spans by @poshinchen in chore: updated semantic conventions on Generative AI spans #319
• refactor: Consolidate agent state unit tests by @Unshure in refactor: Consolidate agent state unit tests #334
• Remove FunctionTool as a breaking change by @zastrowm in Remove FunctionTool as a breaking change #325

tools

• test(memory): add an end-to-end integration test by @JackYPCOnline in test(memory): add an end-to-end integration test tools#94
• fix(generate_image): updating generate_image tool to support additional models in Amazon Bedrock by @cerashdan in fix(generate_image): updating generate_image tool to support additional models in Amazon Bedrock tools#89
• Add end to end test for read, write, edit tools by @JackYPCOnline in Add end to end test for read, write, edit tools tools#100
• test(generate_read_image): add end to end tests for image tools by @JackYPCOnline in test(generate_read_image): add end to end tests for image tools tools#107
• feat(tools): add use_browser tool to Strands tools repository by @jimbrub in feat(tools): add use_browser tool to Strands tools repository tools#102