Tanstack Ai

TanStack AI (Provider-Agnostic LLM SDK)

Status: Production Ready ✅
Last Updated: 2025-12-09
Production Tested: Streaming chat with OpenAI gpt-4o + tools in Next.js API route (alpha channel)

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Auto-Trigger Keywords

Primary

• tanstack ai
• @tanstack/ai
• @tanstack/ai-react
• ChatClient / useChat
• toStreamResponse

Secondary

• toolDefinition
• client tools / server tools
• fetchServerSentEvents
• agent loop / maxIterations
• tool approval / needsApproval

Error-Based

• "tool not found"
• "stream stalls after first chunk"
• "missing OPENAI_API_KEY"
• "tool approval pending"

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What This Skill Does

Gives a copy/paste blueprint for TanStack AI’s alpha SDK: install the right adapter, expose a streaming chat route, define isomorphic tools with approval gates, and wire React clients with SSE adapters. It highlights per-model type safety, agent loop caps, and observability hooks to keep tool calls safe and debuggable.

Core Capabilities

✅ Streaming chat API template (Next.js / TanStack Start)
✅ Isomorphic tool definitions with approval + Zod validation
✅ Client wiring with useChat, fetchServerSentEvents, and tool registration
✅ Agent loop safeguards and per-model option typing

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Known Issues This Skill Prevents

Issue	Why It Happens	How Skill Fixes It
Tool not found	Definitions never sent to chat()	Keep shared toolDefinition exports and pass to server tools list
Streaming stalls	Server uses chunked response but client expects SSE	Pair toStreamResponse with fetchServerSentEvents (or matching adapter)
Invalid model options	Vision/audio params sent to unsupported model	Use adapter typings + per-model options to catch at compile time

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When to Use This Skill

✅ Use When

• Building chat or agent flows that must call tools across server and client.
• Swapping between OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or Ollama without rewriting UI.
• You need approval UX for side-effectful tool calls.
• Debugging stalled streams or missing tool execution in TanStack AI alpha.

❌ Don’t Use When

• You need a non-streaming, legacy REST completion flow (use plain OpenAI API skill).
• You are locked to a single provider and don’t need tool orchestration.

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Quick Usage Example

# 1) Install core + adapter
pnpm add @tanstack/ai @tanstack/ai-react @tanstack/ai-openai zod

# 2) Copy route + tools
cp assets/api-chat-route.ts app/api/chat/route.ts       # Next.js
cp assets/tool-definitions.ts src/tools/definitions.ts  # adjust path

# 3) Validate env and run dev
./scripts/check-ai-env.sh
pnpm dev

Result: A streaming chat endpoint with tool approval and SSE client wiring.
Full instructions: See SKILL.md

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Package Versions (Verified 2025-12-09)

Package	Version	Status
@tanstack/ai	latest (alpha)	✅
@tanstack/ai-react	latest	✅
@tanstack/ai-client	latest	✅
@tanstack/ai-openai	latest	✅
zod	latest	✅

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Dependencies

Prerequisites: None
Integrates With:

• tanstack-query (for data caching inside tools)
• openai-agents / claude-agent-sdk (for provider-specific flows)

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File Structure

tanstack-ai/
├── SKILL.md              # Full instructions + references
├── README.md             # Quick reference (this file)
├── scripts/
│   └── check-ai-env.sh   # Verifies provider API keys
├── references/
│   └── tanstack-ai-cheatsheet.md  # Condensed patterns + troubleshooting
└── assets/
    ├── api-chat-route.ts  # Streaming chat route template
    └── tool-definitions.ts # toolDefinition examples with approval

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Official Documentation

• TanStack AI Overview: https://tanstack.com/ai/latest/docs/getting-started/overview
• Quick Start: https://tanstack.com/ai/latest/docs/getting-started/quick-start
• Tool Architecture & Approval: https://tanstack.com/ai/latest/docs/guides/tool-architecture
• Client Tools: https://tanstack.com/ai/latest/docs/guides/client-tools
• Streaming & Connection Adapters: https://tanstack.com/ai/latest/docs/guides/streaming

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Related Skills

• tanstack-query — server state management patterns
• openai-agents — OpenAI-specific assistants/agents setups
• claude-agent-sdk — Anthropic-flavored agent orchestration

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Contributing

Found an issue or suggestion? Open an issue on the repo and reference tanstack-ai. See SKILL.md for full details.

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Ready to use. Copy the assets, verify env keys, and ship a streaming tool-enabled chat.