Self-managed agents

<CopilotKit> usually talks to your agents through the runtime: the frontend hits runtimeUrl, the runtime discovers agents from /info, and a proxy forwards every run server-side. But you can also hand the provider AG-UI agent instances directly and skip the runtime for those agents. There are two props for this, and choosing the right one matters.

Production: self-managed agents#

selfManagedAgents is the supported prop for connecting agents you manage yourself, for example an HttpAgent pointing at an AG-UI-compatible backend you own and have already secured:

import { HttpAgent } from "@ag-ui/client";
import { CopilotKit } from "@copilotkit/react-core/v2";

const supportAgent = new HttpAgent({
  url: "https://agents.example.com/support",
});

<CopilotKit
  selfManagedAgents={{ "support-agent": supportAgent }}
>
  <YourApp />
</CopilotKit>;

Each key is the agentId the prebuilt components and useAgent({ agentId }) use to address that agent. Self-managed agents use your transport and your security model. Because the requests don't pass through the CopilotKit runtime, the runtime's server-side auth, middleware, and routing do not apply. Your agent endpoint must authenticate and authorize every request.

Development: unsafe local agents#

agents__unsafe_dev_only accepts the same shape: a map of agentId to AbstractAgent. The name is intentionally loud. Use it only for local development and prototyping.

import { HttpAgent } from "@ag-ui/client";
import { CopilotKit } from "@copilotkit/react-core/v2";

const myAgent = new HttpAgent({ url: "http://localhost:8000" });

<CopilotKit agents__unsafe_dev_only={{ "my-agent": myAgent }}>
  <YourApp />
</CopilotKit>;

Reach for it when you're wiring up an agent locally and don't want to stand up a runtime yet. Don't ship it to production. Switch to selfManagedAgents if you intend to manage and secure the connection yourself, or move the agent behind the runtime.

How they relate#

Both props feed the same client-side agent registry. When both are supplied they are merged, and selfManagedAgents wins on a key collision:

// effective agents ≈ { ...agents__unsafe_dev_only, ...selfManagedAgents }

Supplying agents through either prop also satisfies the provider's configuration check. You won't get the Missing required prop: 'runtimeUrl' or 'publicApiKey' or 'publicLicenseKey' error (see the error reference) when at least one local agent is registered.

Related#

• Copilot Runtime: the recommended runtime-backed path and its trade-offs compared with direct connections.
• Connect AG-UI agents: the AbstractAgent / HttpAgent interface these props accept.
• Auth: securing agent traffic when you self-manage the connection.