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CopilotKit <> Agent Spec Starter

examples/integrations/agent-spec/README.md

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CopilotKit <> Agent Spec Starter

This is a starter template for building AI agents using Agent Spec and CopilotKit. It provides a modern Next.js application wired to a FastAPI backend that serves an Agent Spec agent with A2UI-powered frontend tool rendering (calendar, inbox, email compose, daily brief dashboard).

Prerequisites

  • OpenAI-compatible API key (for the Agent Spec LLM)
  • Python 3.10+
  • uv
  • Node.js 20+
  • Any of the following package managers:

Getting Started

Before installing, please clone the AG-UI repository into the same directory as this repo, with-agent-spec.

  1. Install dependencies using your preferred package manager:
bash
# Using npm (default)
npm install

# Using pnpm
pnpm install

# Using yarn
yarn install

# Using bun
bun install

Note: This automatically sets up the Python environment for the agent (via postinstall). If you encounter issues, you can run:

bash
npm run install:agent

Note: this install both LangGraph and WayFlow runtimes for running your Agent Spec agents. The runtime can be selected when loading the agent in main.py, setting either langgraph or wayflow.

  1. (Optional) Set up your LLM environment variables:

Create a .env file inside the agent folder if you need to override defaults:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-api-key...
OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.your-provider.com/v1   # optional
OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-5.2                               # optional

The backend loads this .env automatically (via python-dotenv). You can also set:

  • PORT to change the FastAPI server port (defaults to 8000 in this template)
  • Any provider-specific variables your tools require
  1. Start the development servers:
bash
# Using npm (default)
npm run dev

# Using pnpm
pnpm dev

# Using yarn
yarn dev

# Using bun
bun run dev

This starts both the UI and the agent concurrently. The agent runs at http://localhost:8000/, and the UI runs at http://localhost:3000. The UI proxies requests to the agent (no extra env required by default).

To run only the UI or only the backend:

bash
# Only UI
npm run dev:ui

# Only backend
npm run dev:agent

Project Structure

  • src/app/page.tsx - Main chat UI with frontend tool renderers (calendar, inbox, email, daily brief)
  • src/components/ - React components for CalendarView, InboxView, EmailComposeView
  • src/app/theme.ts - A2UI theme configuration
  • agent/src/a2ui_agentspec_agent.py - Agent spec definition with system prompt, tools, and demo data
  • agent/src/main.py - FastAPI server entry point

Available Scripts

You can run these with any package manager:

  • dev - Starts both UI and agent servers in development mode
  • dev:debug - Starts development servers with debug logging enabled
  • dev:ui - Starts only the Next.js UI server
  • dev:agent - Starts only the Agent Spec FastAPI server
  • build - Builds the Next.js application for production
  • start - Starts the production server
  • install:agent - Installs Python dependencies for the agent

Documentation

Contributing

Feel free to submit issues and enhancement requests! This starter is designed to be easily extensible.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Troubleshooting

A2UI surfaces clipped (temporary workaround)

If A2UI cards (e.g. those with bottom action buttons) get clipped in the chat UI, we keep a temporary patch under:

  • src/app/patches/@copilotkit/a2ui-renderer/dist/A2UIMessageRenderer.js

To apply it locally (this edits node_modules and will be overwritten by reinstalling dependencies):

bash
npm run patch:ui

After copying, restart npm run dev.

Custom message key warning (temporary workaround)

If you see React warnings about duplicate keys related to custom message rendering (keys like ${message.id}-custom-before / ${message.id}-custom-after), we keep a temporary patch under:

  • src/app/patches/@copilotkit/react-core/dist/index.mjs

To apply it locally (this edits node_modules and will be overwritten by reinstalling dependencies):

bash
npm run patch:ui

After copying, restart npm run dev.

Agent Connection Issues

If you see "I'm having trouble connecting to my tools", make sure:

  1. The Agent Spec backend is running on port 8000
  2. The UI started successfully on port 3000
  3. If using a custom backend URL, set NEXT_PUBLIC_COPILOTKIT_SERVER_URL

Python Dependencies

If you encounter Python import errors:

bash
cd agent
uv sync
uv run src/main.py