Dev Tools

If you've been living under a rock, Next.js 17 dropped with the Vercel AI SDK folded into core. No `npm install ai`, no version mismatch dance, just import and go. Convenient. Maybe too convenient.

The Setup

The full `generateText` and `streamUI` surface area now lives at `next/ai`. Provider plugins still install separately, but the core SDK is in the framework now.

// app/api/chat/route.ts
import { generateText, streamText } from "next/ai";
import { anthropic } from "@ai-sdk/anthropic";

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages } = await req.json();

  const result = await streamText({
    model: anthropic("claude-haiku-4-7"),
    messages,
    maxTokens: 1024,
  });

  return result.toDataStreamResponse();
}

The Money Pattern

The real win is `streamUI` — server components that render LLM-generated tool calls as actual JSX. I'm prototyping a Rebuild Relief lead-triage flow where the LLM emits typed components and Next renders them inline. Genuinely cool, drops a ton of boilerplate.

// app/triage/page.tsx
import { streamUI } from "next/ai";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";

export default async function Page() {
  const ui = await streamUI({
    model: openai("gpt-4o-mini"),
    prompt: "triage this lead and pick an action",
    tools: {
      assignRep: {
        description: "assign a sales rep",
        parameters: z.object({ repId: z.string() }),
        generate: async ({ repId }) => <RepCard id={repId} />,
      },
    },
  });

  return <div>{ui.value}</div>;
}

The Catch

This is vendor lock-in dressed up as DX. Vercel owns the framework, ships their own SDK in it, optimises for their hosting. Self-host on Netlify and most of it still works, but every release tightens the gravity well. Worth knowing what you're signing up for.

The Verdict

If you're already all-in on Vercel, this is fantastic. If you're shipping on Netlify or self-hosting, watch this carefully — the SDK is good enough that lifting it out post-hoc will get painful. For my Astro projects I'm sticking with the standalone `ai` package, which still works fine without the framework hug.