Reading agent state

This example demonstrates reading from shared state in the CopilotKit Feature Viewer.

What is this?#

You can easily use the realtime agent state not only in the chat UI, but also in the native application UX.

When should I use this?#

You can use this when you want to provide the user with feedback about your agent's state. As your agent's state updates, you can reflect these updates natively in your application.

Implementation#

Run and connect your agent#

You'll need to run your agent and connect it to CopilotKit before proceeding. If you haven't done so already, you can follow the instructions in the Getting Started guide.

If you don't already have an agent, you can use the coagent starter as a starting point as this guide uses it as a starting point.

Setup your agent with state#

Define your agent's state schema. AWS Strands maintains state throughout execution.

agent/main.py

from ag_ui_strands import StrandsAgent, StrandsAgentConfig, create_strands_app
from strands import Agent
from strands.models.openai import OpenAIModel

model = OpenAIModel(
    client_args={"api_key": os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", "")},
    model_id="gpt-4o",
)

# Create the Strands agent
strands_agent = Agent(
    model=model,
    system_prompt="Always communicate in the preferred language of the user as defined in your state. Do not communicate in any other language.",
)

# Inject state into the prompt
def language_prompt(input_data, user_message: str) -> str:
    state_dict = getattr(input_data, "state", None)
    if isinstance(state_dict, dict) and "language" in state_dict:
        return f"Current language: {state_dict['language']}\n\nUser request: {user_message}"
    return user_message

config = StrandsAgentConfig(state_context_builder=language_prompt)

# Wrap with AG-UI integration
agui_agent = StrandsAgent(
    agent=strands_agent,
    name="languageAgent",
    description="Always communicate in the preferred language of the user",
    config=config,
)

app = create_strands_app(agui_agent)

Use the `useAgent` Hook#

With your agent connected and running, call the useAgent hook, pass the agent's name, and optionally provide an initial state.

ui/app/page.tsx


// Define the agent state type to match your Strands agent
type AgentState = {
language: "english" | "spanish";
};

function YourMainContent() {
  const { agent } = useAgent({
    agentId: "strands_agent",
    // optionally provide a type-safe initial state
    initialState: { language: "spanish" }
  });

  // ...

  return (
    // style excluded for brevity
    <div>
      <h1>Your main content</h1>
      <p>Language: {agent.state?.language}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

The agent.state in useAgent is reactive and will automatically update when the agent state changes.

Give it a try!#

As the agent state updates, your state variable will automatically update with it! In this case, you'll see the language set to "spanish" as that's the initial state we set.

Rendering agent state in the chat#

You can also render the agent state in the chat UI. This is useful for informing the user about the state in a more in-context way. To do this, you can use the useAgent hook with a render function.