UI Tools
The adk-ui crate enables AI agents to dynamically generate rich user interfaces through tool calls. Agents can render forms, cards, alerts, tables, charts, and more - all through a type-safe Rust API that serializes to JSON for frontend consumption.
What You'll Build
Key Concepts:
- Forms - Collect user input with various field types
- Cards - Display information with action buttons
- Tables - Present structured data in rows/columns
- Charts - Visualize data with bar, line, area, pie charts
- Alerts - Show notifications and status messages
- Modals - Confirmation dialogs and focused interactions
- Toasts - Brief status notifications
Example: Analytics Dashboard
Example: Registration Form
How It Works
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ STEP 1: User requests something │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ User: "I want to register for an account" │
│ │
│ ↓ │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ AI AGENT (LLM) │ │
│ │ "I should show a registration form" │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ STEP 2: Agent calls render_form tool │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 📞 Tool Call: render_form({ │
│ title: "Registration", │
│ fields: [ │
│ {name: "email", type: "email"}, │
│ {name: "password", type: "password"} │
│ ] │
│ }) │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ STEP 3: Frontend renders the form │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ 📋 Registration │ │
│ │ ──────────────────────────────────────────── │ │
│ │ Email: [________________________] │ │
│ │ Password: [________________________] │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ [ Register ] │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ ✅ User sees an interactive form, fills it out, clicks Register │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ STEP 4: Form submission sent back to agent │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 📩 Event: { │
│ type: "form_submit", │
│ data: { email: "user@example.com", password: "***" } │
│ } │
│ │
│ Agent: "Great! I'll process your registration and show a success alert" │
│ │
│ 📞 Tool Call: render_alert({ │
│ title: "Registration Complete!", │
│ variant: "success" │
│ }) │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Overview
UI tools allow agents to:
- Collect user input through dynamic forms with textarea support
- Display information with cards, alerts, and notifications
- Present data in tables and interactive charts (Recharts)
- Show progress and loading states (spinner, skeleton)
- Create dashboard layouts with multiple components
- Request user confirmation via modals
- Display toast notifications for status updates
Quick Start
Add to your Cargo.toml:
[dependencies]
adk-rust = { version = "0.2.0", features = ["ui"] }
# Or use individual crates:
adk-ui = "0.2.0"
adk-agent = "0.2.0"
adk-model = "0.2.0"Basic Usage
use adk_rust::prelude::*;
use adk_rust::ui::UiToolset;
use std::sync::Arc;
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
let model = Arc::new(GeminiModel::from_env("gemini-2.0-flash")?);
// Get all 10 UI tools
let ui_tools = UiToolset::all_tools();
// Create AI agent with UI tools
let mut builder = LlmAgentBuilder::new("ui_agent")
.model(model)
.instruction(r#"
You are a helpful assistant that uses UI components to interact with users.
Use render_form for collecting information.
Use render_card for displaying results.
Use render_alert for notifications.
Use render_modal for confirmation dialogs.
Use render_toast for brief status messages.
"#);
for tool in ui_tools {
builder = builder.tool(tool);
}
let agent = builder.build()?;
Ok(())
}Available Tools
render_form
Render interactive forms to collect user input.
{
"title": "Registration Form",
"description": "Create your account",
"fields": [
{"name": "username", "label": "Username", "type": "text", "required": true},
{"name": "email", "label": "Email", "type": "email", "required": true},
{"name": "password", "label": "Password", "type": "password", "required": true},
{"name": "newsletter", "label": "Subscribe to newsletter", "type": "switch"}
],
"submit_label": "Register"
}Renders as:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📋 Registration Form │
│ Create your account │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ Username * │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ Email * │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ Password * │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ •••••••• │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ Subscribe to newsletter [○] │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Register │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Field types: text, email, password, number, date, select, multiselect, switch, slider, textarea
render_card
Display information cards with optional action buttons.
{
"title": "Order Confirmed",
"description": "Order #12345",
"content": "Your order has been placed successfully. Expected delivery: Dec 15, 2025.",
"actions": [
{"label": "Track Order", "action_id": "track", "variant": "primary"},
{"label": "Cancel", "action_id": "cancel", "variant": "danger"}
]
}Button variants: primary, secondary, danger, ghost, outline
render_alert
Show notifications and status messages.
{
"title": "Payment Successful",
"description": "Your payment of $99.00 has been processed.",
"variant": "success"
}Variants: info, success, warning, error
render_confirm
Request user confirmation before actions.
{
"title": "Delete Account",
"message": "Are you sure you want to delete your account? This action cannot be undone.",
"confirm_label": "Delete",
"cancel_label": "Keep Account",
"variant": "danger"
}render_table
Display tabular data.
{
"title": "Recent Orders",
"columns": [
{"header": "Order ID", "accessor_key": "id"},
{"header": "Date", "accessor_key": "date"},
{"header": "Amount", "accessor_key": "amount"},
{"header": "Status", "accessor_key": "status"}
],
"data": [
{"id": "#12345", "date": "2025-12-10", "amount": "$99.00", "status": "Delivered"},
{"id": "#12346", "date": "2025-12-11", "amount": "$149.00", "status": "Shipped"}
]
}render_chart
Create data visualizations.
{
"title": "Monthly Sales",
"chart_type": "bar",
"x_key": "month",
"y_keys": ["revenue", "profit"],
"data": [
{"month": "Jan", "revenue": 4000, "profit": 2400},
{"month": "Feb", "revenue": 3000, "profit": 1398},
{"month": "Mar", "revenue": 5000, "profit": 3800}
]
}Chart types: bar, line, area, pie
render_progress
Show task progress with optional steps.
{
"title": "Installing Dependencies",
"value": 65,
"description": "Installing package 13 of 20...",
"steps": [
{"label": "Download", "completed": true},
{"label": "Extract", "completed": true},
{"label": "Install", "current": true},
{"label": "Configure", "completed": false}
]
}render_layout
Create dashboard layouts with multiple sections.
{
"title": "System Status",
"description": "Current system health overview",
"sections": [
{
"title": "Services",
"type": "stats",
"stats": [
{"label": "API Server", "value": "Healthy", "status": "operational"},
{"label": "Database", "value": "Degraded", "status": "warning"},
{"label": "Cache", "value": "Down", "status": "error"}
]
},
{
"title": "Recent Errors",
"type": "table",
"columns": [{"header": "Time", "key": "time"}, {"header": "Error", "key": "error"}],
"rows": [{"time": "10:30", "error": "Connection timeout"}]
}
]
}Section types: stats, table, chart, alert, text
render_modal
Display modal dialogs for confirmations or focused interactions.
{
"title": "Confirm Deletion",
"message": "Are you sure you want to delete this item? This action cannot be undone.",
"size": "medium",
"closable": true,
"confirm_label": "Delete",
"cancel_label": "Cancel",
"confirm_action": "delete_confirmed"
}Sizes: small, medium, large, full
render_toast
Show brief toast notifications for status updates.
{
"message": "Settings saved successfully",
"variant": "success",
"duration": 5000,
"dismissible": true
}Variants: info, success, warning, error
Filtered Tools
Select only the tools your agent needs:
let toolset = UiToolset::new()
.without_chart() // Disable charts
.without_table() // Disable tables
.without_progress() // Disable progress
.without_modal() // Disable modals
.without_toast(); // Disable toasts
// Or use forms only
let forms_only = UiToolset::forms_only();Handling UI Events
When users interact with rendered UI (submit forms, click buttons), events are sent back to the agent:
use adk_ui::{UiEvent, UiEventType};
// UiEvent structure
pub struct UiEvent {
pub event_type: UiEventType, // FormSubmit, ButtonClick, InputChange
pub action_id: Option<String>,
pub data: Option<HashMap<String, Value>>,
}
// Convert to message for agent
let message = ui_event.to_message();Streaming UI Updates
For real-time UI updates, use UiUpdate to patch components by ID:
use adk_ui::{UiUpdate, UiOperation};
let update = UiUpdate {
target_id: "progress-bar".to_string(),
operation: UiOperation::Patch,
payload: Some(Component::Progress(Progress {
id: Some("progress-bar".to_string()),
value: 75,
label: Some("75%".to_string()),
})),
};Operations: Replace, Patch, Append, Remove
Component Schema
All 28 component types support optional id fields for streaming updates:
Atoms: Text, Button, Icon, Image, Badge Inputs: TextInput, NumberInput, Select, MultiSelect, Switch, DateInput, Slider, Textarea Layouts: Stack, Grid, Card, Container, Divider, Tabs Data: Table, List, KeyValue, CodeBlock Visualization: Chart (bar, line, area, pie via Recharts) Feedback: Alert, Progress, Toast, Modal, Spinner, Skeleton
React Client
A reference React implementation is provided:
cd official_docs_examples/tools/ui_test
# Start the UI server
cargo run --bin ui_server
# In another terminal, start the React client
cd ui_react_client
npm install && npm run dev -- --hostThe React client includes:
- TypeScript types matching the Rust schema
- Component renderer for all 28 types
- Recharts integration for interactive charts
- Markdown rendering support
- Dark mode support
- Form submission handling
- Modal and toast components
Architecture
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Agent │ ──[render_* tool]──│ UiResponse │
│ (LLM) │ │ (JSON) │
└─────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘
▲ │
│ │ SSE
│ ▼
│ ┌─────────────┐
└────── UiEvent ◄───────────│ Client │
(user action) │ (React) │
└─────────────┘Examples
Three examples demonstrate UI tools:
| Example | Description | Run Command |
|---|---|---|
ui_agent | Console demo | cargo run --bin ui_agent |
ui_server | HTTP server with SSE | cargo run --bin ui_server |
ui_react_client | React frontend | cd ui_react_client && npm run dev |
Run from official_docs_examples/tools/ui_test/.
Sample Prompts
Test the UI tools with these prompts:
# Forms
"I want to register for an account"
"Create a contact form"
"Create a feedback form with a comments textarea"
# Cards
"Show me my profile"
"Display a product card for a laptop"
# Alerts
"Show a success message"
"Display a warning about expiring session"
# Modals
"I want to delete my account" (shows confirmation modal)
"Show a confirmation dialog before submitting"
# Toasts
"Show a success toast notification"
"Display an error toast"
# Tables
"Show my recent orders"
"List all users"
# Charts
"Show monthly sales chart"
"Display traffic trends as a line chart"
"Show revenue breakdown as a pie chart"
# Progress & Loading
"Show upload progress at 75%"
"Display a loading spinner"
"Show skeleton loading state"
# Dashboards
"Show system status dashboard"Previous: ← Browser Tools | Next: MCP Tools →