AI SDK

What does this agent do, and when should you use it?

The AI SDK is a provider-agnostic TypeScript toolkit for building AI-powered applications and agents, usable with UI frameworks such as Next.js, React, Svelte, Vue, and Angular as well as runtimes like Node.js. It exposes a unified API over model providers — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and more — defaulting to the Vercel AI Gateway, while also allowing direct connection through per-provider packages such as @ai-sdk/openai. Core pieces include generateText for text generation, Output.object for zod-schema structured output, ToolLoopAgent for tool-loop agents, and the AI SDK UI module with hooks like useChat plus helpers such as createAgentUIStreamResponse and InferAgentUIMessage. It ships as an npm package that requires Node.js 22+ and is meant to be imported into your own code and applications rather than run as a standalone product.

generateText resolves a model string such as 'anthropic/claude-opus-5.5' or a provider handle such as anthropic('claude-opus-5-5'), sends the prompt and returns a { text } result. Passing Output.object with a zod schema constrains the response into a typed object, as in the recipe example with nested ingredients and steps arrays. ToolLoopAgent takes a model, a system prompt and a tools map, and drives the model through a tool loop; the documented example wires openai.tools.localShell to run commands in a Vercel Sandbox and return stdout. For UIs, the framework-agnostic useChat hook tracks messages and status, while createAgentUIStreamResponse streams an agent's UI messages from a route handler, and InferAgentUIMessage / UIToolInvocation type the message parts and tool-invocation components rendered in the client.

1. A Next.js or React team that wants to add a streaming chat interface to an existing product without building its own model plumbing.
2. A backend developer who needs model responses that strictly match a zod schema, such as recipes, form payloads or classification records.
3. A developer building an agent that must call external tools — running shell commands or generating images — and surface intermediate UI states.
4. A team that wants to keep OpenAI, Anthropic and Google interchangeable behind one API instead of committing to a single vendor.
5. A Svelte or Vue developer who needs a framework-agnostic chat state hook for generative UI.

How do you install or deploy this agent?

Node.js 22+ and npm (or another package manager) are required locally.

Install the core package:

npm install ai

To call providers directly instead of through the Vercel AI Gateway, install their SDK packages:

npm install @ai-sdk/openai @ai-sdk/anthropic @ai-sdk/google

For frontend hooks, install the package for your framework:

npm install @ai-sdk/react

If you use coding agents such as Claude Code or Cursor, add the AI SDK skill:

npx skills add vercel/ai

How do you use this agent?

Minimal call using the default Vercel AI Gateway:

import { generateText } from 'ai';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'openai/gpt-6-astra', // use Vercel AI Gateway
  prompt: 'What is an agent?',
});

Or connect directly with a provider package:

import { anthropic } from '@ai-sdk/anthropic';

const result = await generateText({
  model: anthropic('claude-opus-5-5'), // or openai('gpt-6-astra'), google('gemini-3.8-flash'), etc.
  prompt: 'Hello!',
});

Define a tool-using agent and expose it from a Next.js App Router route:

import { imageGenerationAgent } from '@/agent/image-generation-agent';
import { createAgentUIStreamResponse } from 'ai';

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages } = await req.json();

  return createAgentUIStreamResponse({
    agent: imageGenerationAgent,
    messages,
  });
}

Consume messages and tool parts in the client with useChat:

'use client';

import { useChat } from '@ai-sdk/react';

export default function Page() {
  const { messages, status, sendMessage } =
    useChat<ImageGenerationAgentMessage>();
  // render messages and tool parts
}

The source does not document how to configure each provider's API keys or its billing details; check the individual provider documentation before wiring it up.

What are this agent's strengths and limitations?

How does this agent compare with similar options?

Key facts side by side with the most closely related agents.

How does FollowAgents rate this agent?

FAQ