# Microsoft Agent Framework for Python 1.25.0: Python 3.11 required, MCP discovery limits, breaking changes

Canonical: https://theagenticweekly.com/news/microsoft-agent-framework-python-1-25-0 · Evidence: Reported · First seen: 2026-11-07 15:54 UTC · Source published: 2026-11-07 15:52 UTC · Brief published: 2026-11-08 07:12 UTC · Updated: 2026-11-08 07:12 UTC · Author: Agentic Weekly

> Microsoft Agent Framework for Python 1.25.0, released Nov 7, 2026, is a breaking release: the notes say to "Upgrade Python 3.10 environments to Python 3.11 or later before installing this release." It also bounds MCP tool discovery to 100 pages and 1,000 items per catalog with 30-second default request timeouts.

## What changed

- Every Python package in the framework, from agent-framework-core to the Anthropic, Bedrock, Gemini, Ollama and OpenAI integrations, now requires Python 3.11 or later; Python 3.10 installs are no longer eligible, per the release notes.
- MCP tool and prompt discovery is capped at 100 pages and 1,000 items per catalog, and framework-owned MCP requests time out after 30 seconds by default. The notes say to raise max_discovery_pages or max_discovery_items for larger catalogs, or pass request_timeout=None to restore unlimited timing.
- Live workflow agent executors and sessions are bound to one authorization scope: cross-scope reuse now fails with WORKFLOW_SCOPE_CONFLICT before any model call, and WorkflowAgent.as_tool() is rejected in AG-UI endpoints. The fix is a workflow_factory that builds fresh workflows per call.
- The declarative package opens and closes a fresh MCP session for every handler call to stop cross-workflow MCP state sharing, which the notes call a security fix; cache_max_size is now a deprecated no-op.
- Workflow tracing spans move to OpenTelemetry GenAI conventions (gen_ai.operation.name of invoke_workflow), Foundry Local moves to SDK 2.3.1, and new MCP discovery approval policies honor Foundry Toolbox approval metadata.

## In the source's words

> "Upgrade Python 3.10 environments to Python 3.11 or later before installing this release."
> (Agent Framework python-1.25.0 release notes, migration note, https://github.com/microsoft/agent-framework/releases/tag/python-1.25.0)

> "Bound MCP tool and prompt discovery to 100 pages and 1,000 items per catalog, default framework-owned request timeouts to 30 seconds"
> (Agent Framework python-1.25.0 release notes, https://github.com/microsoft/agent-framework/releases/tag/python-1.25.0)

## Early verdict

Read the migration notes before upgrading if you run on Python 3.10, share workflow agents across users, use large MCP catalogs or filter traces on workflow.run; otherwise it is a routine upgrade. (Basis: Based only on the GitHub release notes as read on Nov 8, 2026; we have not installed this version.)

## What we have not verified

- We did not install 1.25.0 or run any migration; every change and migration step here comes from the release notes.
- We did not check whether the .NET side of the framework made matching changes; this brief covers the Python release only.
- We did not measure how often real MCP servers exceed the new 1,000-item or 30-second defaults.

## Timeline

- Source published: 2026-11-07 15:52 UTC
- First seen by our watcher: 2026-11-07 15:54 UTC (via GitHub releases: microsoft/agent-framework)
- Brief published: 2026-11-08 07:12 UTC

## Sources

- [microsoft/agent-framework python-1.25.0 release notes (GitHub)](https://github.com/microsoft/agent-framework/releases/tag/python-1.25.0) (primary source) (fetched 2026-11-08)

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## How to cite

Agentic Weekly, "Microsoft Agent Framework for Python 1.25.0: Python 3.11 required, MCP discovery limits, breaking changes", published 2026-11-08 07:12 UTC, https://theagenticweekly.com/news/microsoft-agent-framework-python-1-25-0