openai agents sdk is a python runtime for tool-calling agents against the openai responses api: handoffs, guardrails, traces, one provider. bernstein is an orchestrator that ships an openai-agents adapter so you get the sdk runtime as one of 37 agents under a deterministic scheduler. bernstein adds worktree isolation, quality gates, multi-provider routing, mcp server mode, and an hmac audit chain. you can also pin one task to openai agents sdk and another to claude code in the same plan. pick openai agents sdk alone for openai-only python apps. pick bernstein when you need parallel agents across providers, ci-style merges, or compliance-grade audit. matrix at https://bernstein.run/vs/openai-agents-sdk.
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