In a previous blog post, we introduced Agents League, a two‑week AI agent challenge running February 16–27, and gave an overview of the three available tracks.
In this post, we’ll zoom in on one of them in particular:🧠 The Reasoning Agents track, built on Microsoft Foundry.
If you’re interested in multi‑step reasoning, planning, verification, and multi‑agent collaboration, this is the track designed for you.
What Do We Mean by “Reasoning Agents”?
Reasoning agents go beyond simple prompt–response interactions.
They are agents that can:
- Plan how to approach a task
- Break problems into steps
- Reason across intermediate results
- Verify or critique their own outputs
- Collaborate with other agents to solve more complex problems
With Microsoft Foundry (via UI or SDK) and/or the Microsoft Agent Framework, you can design agent systems that reflect real‑world decision‑making patterns—closer to how teams of humans work together.
Why Build Reasoning Agents on Microsoft Foundry?
Microsoft Foundry provides production‑ready building blocks for agentic systems, without locking you into a single way of working.
For the Reasoning Agents track, Foundry enables you to:
- Define agent roles (planner, executor, verifier, critic, etc.)
- Orchestrate multi‑agent workflows
- Integrate tools, APIs, and MCP servers
- Apply structured reasoning patterns
- Observe and debug agent behavior as it runs
You can work visually in the Foundry UI, programmatically via the SDK, or mix both approaches depending on your project.
How to get started?
Your first step to enter the arena is registering to the Agents League challenge: https://aka.ms/agentsleague/register.
After you registered, navigate to the Reasoning Agent Starter Kit, to get more context about the challenge scenario, an example of multi-agent architecture to address it, along with some guidelines on the tech stack to use and useful resources to get started.
There’s no single “correct” project, feel free to unleash your creativity and leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate your build process (e.g. GitHub Copilot).
👉 View the Reasoning Agents starter kit: https://github.com/microsoft/agentsleague/starter-kits
Live Coding Battle: Reasoning Agents
📽️ Wednesday, Feb 18 – 9:00 AM PT
During Week 1, we’re hosting a live coding battle dedicated entirely to the Reasoning Agents track.
You’ll watch experienced developers from the community:
- Design agent architectures live
- Explain reasoning strategies and trade‑offs
- Make real‑time decisions about agent roles, tools, and flows
The session is streamed on Microsoft Reactor and recorded, so you can watch it live (highly recommended for the best experience!) or later at your convenience.
AMA Session on Discord
💬 Wednesday, Feb 25 – 9:00 AM PT
In Week 2, it’s your turn to build—and ask questions.
Join the Reasoning Agents AMA on Discord to:
- Ask about agent architecture and reasoning patterns
- Get clarification on Foundry capabilities
- Discuss MCP integration and multi‑agent design
- Get unstuck when your agent doesn’t behave as expected
Prizes, Badges, and Recognition
🏆 $500 for the Reasoning Agents track winner
🎖️ Digital badge for everyone who registers and submits a project
Important reminder:
👉 You must register before submitting to be eligible for prizes and the badge.
Beyond the rewards, every participant receives feedback from Microsoft product teams, which is often the most valuable prize of all.
Ready to Build Agents That Reason?
If you’ve been curious about:
- Agentic architectures
- Multi‑step reasoning
- Verification and self‑reflection
- Building AI systems that explain their thinking
…then the Reasoning Agents track is your arena.
📝 Register here: https://aka.ms/agentsleague/register
💬 Join Discord: https://aka.ms/agentsleague/discord
📽️ Watch live battles: https://aka.ms/agentsleague/battles
The league starts February 16.
The reasoning begins now.
Microsoft