Framework Selection

Framework choice is a two-to-three-year bet. Choose with a matrix, a bake-off, and an exit plan — not a demo-day feeling.

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What you'll learn

The selection matrix
Lock-in & portability
The hands-on bake-off
Decision discipline

Remember this

Weight the boring axes: control-flow philosophy, ecosystem, maturity pulse — features converge, these don't
Keep a plain, testable core with the framework as a shell and protocols (MCP/A2A) as integrations — the exit costs a re-shell, not a rebuild
Run the same-task bake-off on honest dimensions, record the ADR with tripwires, and re-ask 'would we choose this again?' every quarter

Matrix (weight boring axes)

Control (who owns flow) · ecosystem (docs, hiring, 2 a.m. answers) · language/runtime fit · maturity pulse (cadence, spec absorption).
Features converge — philosophies and momentum don't.

Lock-in & portability

Lock-in layers: model bindings (cheap) · tool integrations (cheap if MCP) · orchestration logic (expensive).
Shell pattern: plain tested core + framework at edges + protocol integrations.
Write the exit plan at adoption.

Bake-off

Same representative task (tool + branch + failure + checkpoint) in top-2.
Dimensions: time-to-working, my-code ratio, break-it debugging, test ergonomics, free observability.

Discipline

ADR + pre-agreed tripwires + quarterly 'would we choose this again?' — switch bravely.

Code: The bake-off scorecard template

# Bake-off: LangGraph vs MAF (task: RAG + tool + failure path)
# Scorer: ____ Date: ____ Versions: __________

dim,                    weight, LG, MAF
time_to_working,        1,      _,   _
my_code_ratio,          2,      _,   _   # app logic vs ceremony
break_it_debug_min,     2,      _,   _   # intentional tool failure
pytest_ergonomics,      2,      _,   _
observability_free,     1,      _,   _   # visibility w/o added instrumentation
mcp_support_current,    2,      _,   _   # 2026-07-28 spec state
docs_at_midnight,       1,      _,   _   # ecosystem gut-check
# ─────────────────────────────────────────────
# weighted totals:               _,   _
# break-it notes:  LG error: …  MAF error: …
# verdict + exit conditions recorded in ADR-7