Even with agent framework DX getting somewhat better - it's still really annoying to build real apps with them. Even a basic in-app agent chatbot already drags in streaming, tool call rendering, and state sync.
Vercel's AI SDK makes it much easier to start, but it pulls you right into Vercel's whole stack and is too opinionated on the agent framework side.
This is what is great about CopilotKit (30k stars, MIT). They provide React building blocks for the agent UI layer: chat, streaming, tool calls, HITL, generative UI.
The piece that makes it horizontal is AG-UI, an open protocol it speaks on the backend, with shipped support in LangGraph, ADK, Strands, CrewAI, Mastra, Pydantic AI, LlamaIndex, Agno, and others. Same UI, any agent framework, no per-framework adapter. Bring your own everything: agent, model, backend, hosting. It's really powerful.
I discovered CopilotKit after being involved with the community on open source AG-UI which they're very involved with. Have had a great experience building with it! Not sure why people aren't talking about it more.
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