CopilotKit × Claude Agent SDK — Python Starter
A starter template for building AI agents with the Claude Agent SDK and CopilotKit. It pairs a modern Next.js frontend with a Python agent that speaks the AG-UI protocol, and shows CopilotKit driving interactive UI beyond chat:
- a shared-state todos canvas the agent and the user both edit,
- charts rendered from queried data,
- flight cards and dynamic dashboards via A2UI generative UI,
- a human-in-the-loop meeting picker,
- a light/dark theme toggle, and
- the SDK threads drawer (activated with a CopilotKit Intelligence license).
The agent is powered by Claude (claude-sonnet-5 by default) and exposes three backend tools —
query_data, search_flights, and generate_a2ui — while the todo board is shared state the
agent updates through the adapter's built-in ag_ui_update_state tool.
Prerequisites
- Node.js 20.9+
- Python 3.12 or 3.13
- uv (Python package manager)
- An Anthropic API key — create one at https://console.anthropic.com/
Getting Started
-
Copy the environment file:
cp .env.example .env -
Add your Anthropic API key to
.env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...The other values are optional and already set to sensible defaults:
CLAUDE_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5andAGENT_URL=http://localhost:8000. -
Install dependencies:
npm installThis installs the Next.js frontend and, via the
postinstallscript, the Python agent's dependencies withuv sync. -
Start the app:
npm run devThis runs the Next.js UI on http://localhost:3000 and the Claude agent on http://localhost:8000 concurrently.
-
Open http://localhost:3000 and try the suggested prompts (add todos, draw a chart, search flights, build a dashboard, schedule a meeting).
-
(Optional) Enable the Threads drawer. Thread history is gated behind a CopilotKit Intelligence license. Set
COPILOTKIT_LICENSE_TOKEN(and theINTELLIGENCE_*URLs) in.envto activate live thread history; without it the drawer shows a locked state.
Available scripts
npm run dev— start the UI and agent together (dev mode)npm run dev:ui— start only the Next.js UI (port 3000)npm run dev:agent— start only the Claude agent (port 8000)npm run build— build the Next.js app for productionnpm start— start the production servernpm run install:agent— (re)install the Python agent's dependencies
Project structure
├── src/
│ ├── app/
│ │ ├── page.tsx # Main page (chat + todos canvas + threads drawer)
│ │ ├── layout.tsx # CopilotKit v2 provider + A2UI catalog
│ │ └── api/copilotkit/[[...slug]]/ # CopilotKit runtime route (HttpAgent → :8000)
│ ├── components/ # Canvas, generative UI, chat, UI primitives
│ └── hooks/ # Example suggestions + generative-UI examples
└── agent/ # Python Claude agent (AG-UI on port 8000)
├── main.py # Server: mounts the adapter's FastAPI endpoint
├── pyproject.toml # Agent dependencies (managed by uv)
└── src/
├── agent.py # The agent: backend tools → ClaudeAgentAdapter
├── model.py # Model resolution (CLAUDE_MODEL)
├── query.py # query_data tool
├── a2ui_fixed_schema.py # search_flights tool (fixed A2UI schema)
├── a2ui_dynamic_schema.py # generate_a2ui tool (LLM-designed dashboard)
├── db.csv # Sample data for query_data
└── a2ui/schemas/flight_schema.json
How it works
- The frontend uses CopilotKit's v2 React hooks. Shared state (like the todo list) lives in the agent and syncs bidirectionally with the UI.
- The runtime route (
src/app/api/copilotkit/[[...slug]]/route.ts) connects to the agent over HTTP withHttpAgentfrom@ag-ui/client. - The agent is a thin layer on the official
ag-ui-claude-sdkadapter.src/agent.pydefines the three backend tools and hands them toClaudeAgentAdapter;main.pyserves it with the adapter'sadd_claude_fastapi_endpoint. The adapter drives Claude through the Claude Agent SDK, bridges CopilotKit frontend tools + human-in-the-loop, and manages the sharedtodosstate via its built-inag_ui_update_statetool.
To customize: add or edit tools in agent/src/ and the system prompt in agent/src/agent.py,
and the UI in src/app/page.tsx and src/components/.
Troubleshooting
"I'm having trouble connecting to my tools" / agent unreachable
- Make sure the agent is running on port 8000 (
npm run dev:agent) and thatANTHROPIC_API_KEYis set in.env. - Confirm the agent's health check:
curl http://localhost:8000/health→{"status":"ok"}.
Python import errors
- Reinstall the agent's dependencies:
cd agent && uv sync.
Learn more
License
MIT — see LICENSE.