@trigger.dev/sdk 4.5.0-rc.6 → 4.5.0

package/docs/ai-chat/anatomy.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+---
+title: "Anatomy of an agent"
+sidebarTitle: "Anatomy"
+description: "The moving parts of a chat agent — the agent task, the session, the frontend transport — and which page covers each."
+---
+
+**A chat agent is three parts: a long-lived agent task that runs the turn loop, a durable Session carrying messages in and the response stream out, and a frontend transport that plugs the session into `useChat`.** The pages in this section each own one part of that picture. This page is the map — if you'd rather read mechanics end to end, skip to [How it works](/ai-chat/how-it-works).
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+  FE["Frontend<br/>useChat + transport"] -- "user messages" --> IN([Session .in])
+  IN --> AGENT["Agent task<br/>turn loop + hooks"]
+  AGENT --> OUT([Session .out])
+  OUT -- "streamed response" --> FE
+```
+
+Everything below maps onto one annotated agent:
+
+```ts trigger/my-agent.ts
+import { chat } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/ai";
+import { streamText, stepCountIs } from "ai";
+import { anthropic } from "@ai-sdk/anthropic";
+
+export const myAgent = chat.agent({
+  id: "my-agent",
+
+  // Tools declared on the config survive history re-conversion
+  // across turns — see Tools.
+  tools: { searchDocs },
+
+  // Hooks fire around each turn: validation, persistence,
+  // post-turn work — see Lifecycle hooks.
+  onTurnComplete: async ({ responseMessage }) => {
+    await db.messages.save(responseMessage);
+  },
+
+  // The turn loop. Messages arrive accumulated; you stream back.
+  // Options, levels, and alternatives — see Backend.
+  run: async ({ messages, tools, signal }) =>
+    streamText({
+      ...chat.toStreamTextOptions({ tools }),
+      model: anthropic("claude-sonnet-4-5"),
+      messages,
+      abortSignal: signal,
+      stopWhen: stepCountIs(15),
+    }),
+});
+```
+
+The frontend side is one hook — `useTriggerChatTransport` connects `useChat` to the agent's session, no API routes ([Frontend](/ai-chat/frontend)). Underneath, the conversation lives on a [Session](/ai-chat/sessions): a pair of durable streams keyed on your `chatId` that survives refreshes, deploys, and run boundaries.
+
+## Where each part is covered
+
+| Part                                                  | Page                                           |
+| ----------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
+| `chat.agent()` options, the turn loop, piping         | [Backend](/ai-chat/backend)                    |
+| Hooks around each turn (`onTurnComplete`, hydration)  | [Lifecycle hooks](/ai-chat/lifecycle-hooks)    |
+| Declaring tools, typed payloads, `toModelOutput`      | [Tools](/ai-chat/tools)                        |
+| `useChat` wiring, tokens, starting sessions           | [Frontend](/ai-chat/frontend)                  |
+| Driving a chat from your server instead of a browser  | [Server-side chat](/ai-chat/server-chat)       |
+| The durable substrate under every agent               | [Sessions](/ai-chat/sessions)                  |
+| Per-run typed state inside the loop                   | [chat.local](/ai-chat/chat-local)              |
+| Type-safe payloads, client data, and messages         | [Types](/ai-chat/types)                        |
+| Building without the managed lifecycle                | [Custom agents](/ai-chat/custom-agents)        |
+| End-to-end mechanics: what survives a refresh and why | [How it works](/ai-chat/how-it-works)          |
+
+Beyond this section: [Features](/ai-chat/fast-starts) covers opt-in capabilities (Head Start, compaction, steering, actions), and [Patterns](/ai-chat/patterns/sub-agents) covers production recipes (sub-agents, HITL approvals, persistence, recovery).