useStream is UI-agnostic. It returns plain reactive state with messages, tool calls, loading flags, and thread history that you wire to any visual layer you choose. These pages show how three different libraries integrate with useStream, each with a different philosophy for building AI chat and generative UI.
Integrations
AI Elements
Composable shadcn/ui-based components for AI chat. Drop in
Conversation, Message, Tool, and Reasoning and wire them directly to stream.messages.assistant-ui
Headless React framework with a full runtime layer. Bridge
useStream to AssistantRuntimeProvider via the useExternalStoreRuntime adapter.OpenUI
Generative UI library that lets the agent produce complete, interactive dashboards in a declarative component DSL. Purpose-built for data-rich, report-style UIs.
Choosing a library
All three connect touseStream the same way. The choice depends on what kind of UI you’re building:
| AI Elements | assistant-ui | OpenUI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Chat with rich message types | Full-featured chat with minimal setup | Generated dashboards and reports |
| UI style | Composable shadcn/ui components | Headless slots + default theme | Prebuilt component library with declarative DSL |
| Customisation | Edit source files directly | Override component slots | Theme via CSS custom properties |
| Streaming UX | Component-level progressive render | Built-in thread management | Hoisting — shell appears immediately, data fills in |
| Tool calls | Tool / ToolHeader / ToolOutput | Custom via message slots | Inline in the generated UI |
| Agent format | Any stream.messages | Any stream.messages | Agent outputs openui-lang text |
@langchain/react-compatible agent: createAgent, createDeepAgent, or a custom LangGraph graph.
Connect these docs to Claude, VSCode, and more via MCP for real-time answers.