## What
Brings the just-released A2UI support and the latest Microsoft Agent
Framework
(Python) into the showcase, and moves the MAF A2UI demos onto the native
subagent / auto-inject technique so they match the langgraph-python
reference
instead of the pre-1.2.0 hand-rolled path.
- **Bump MAF to 1.2.0.** `agent-framework-ag-ui[a2ui]==1.2.0`,
`agent-framework-openai==1.14.0`, `agent-framework-core==1.15.0`,
`ag-ui-a2ui-toolkit==0.0.4`. 1.2.0 is A2UI's first release; the `[a2ui]`
extra
pulls the toolkit.
- **New `a2ui-recovery` demo** (the one A2UI demo the integration lacked
vs
langgraph-python). Backend-owned via the adapter's native `enable_a2ui`
(`injectA2UITool: false`), which runs the shared toolkit's
validate/retry
recovery loop in-process. Heal pill recovers a malformed first render;
exhaust
pill hits the attempt cap and surfaces the `a2ui_recovery_exhausted`
fallback.
Adds the agent, route, page, chat, suggestions, a D6 fixture, and an e2e
spec.
- **Migrate `declarative-gen-ui` to native A2UI auto-injection.**
Removed the
hand-rolled `generate_a2ui` (a raw secondary OpenAI call to
`_design_a2ui_surface`); the agent now binds no A2UI tool and the route
sets
`injectA2UITool: true`, so the adapter's `plan_a2ui_injection`
auto-injects the
native `generate_a2ui` sub-agent. Reworked the D6 fixture to the native
`render_a2ui` shape.
- **Migrate `beautiful-chat` to native A2UI auto-injection.** Same
change for the
flagship composite: removed its hand-rolled `generate_a2ui`, flipped the
route
to `injectA2UITool: true`. The adapter now auto-injects the native
sub-agent
alongside the agent's own tools (todos, query, flights).
- **`a2ui-fixed-schema` unchanged** — it is the fixed-schema pattern
(client
authored schema, agent streams data via a backend `display` tool,
`injectA2UITool: false`), which langgraph-python does identically. Not
hand-rolled generation.
- **Docs.** Enriched the MAF A2UI docs page into real "how to A2UI"
content
(dynamic / fixed / recovery) and connected the A2UI demos via
`docs-links`.
## Why native (not the dojo's example agents)
The showcase mirrors langgraph-python's frontend-catalog + auto-inject
pattern,
not the AG-UI dojo's `a2ui_config` example agents. Before 1.2.0 the MAF
adapter
had no native A2UI, so the showcase hand-rolled `generate_a2ui`. 1.2.0
ships the
native path, so these demos now use it and match langgraph 1:1.
## Validation
- `validate-pins` clean (FAIL count + hash unchanged), `validate-parity`
PASS,
`generate-registry` clean.
- **D6 (full frontend, aimock replay), all green:**
- `a2ui-recovery` — heal paints the recovered surface; exhaust shows the
hard-failure UI.
- `declarative-gen-ui` — all 4 dashboard pills paint on the auto-inject
path
(confirms the runtime forwards `injectA2UITool: true` and
`plan_a2ui_injection` fires).
- `beautiful-chat` — regression across all 5 features (pie/bar chart,
schedule-meeting, search-flights, toggle-theme): wrapping the multi-tool
agent in the A2UI planner loop does not break its non-A2UI tools.
- **AG-UI protocol layer** (published 1.2.0 wheel + aimock): recovery
(heal/exhaust), declarative, and beautiful-chat all stream real
`a2ui_operations` / `a2ui_recovery_exhausted`, RUN_FINISHED, no
RUN_ERROR.
- **Remove the last hand-rolled A2UI (default agent).** The
general-purpose
default agent (`agent.py`, catch-all `/` endpoint) also carried a
hand-rolled
`generate_a2ui`; removed it (the default agent no longer offers A2UI,
matching
langgraph's default agent). Stripped the stale `_design_a2ui_surface`
fixture
residue and refreshed the e2e-spec comments that described the old
mechanism.
After this PR the MAF-python integration has **zero hand-rolled A2UI
anywhere
except the fixed-schema demo** (which is the intended fixed-schema
pattern,
identical to langgraph). The shared `tools/generate_a2ui.py` module is
intentionally left intact — it is symlinked by other integrations (ag2,
agno, …)
that have not migrated; MAF-python simply no longer imports it.
## Pre-existing, out of scope
Full D6 for ms-agent-python is 37/40. The 3 red cells — `multimodal`,
`voice`,
`hitl-approve-deny` — are **not** touched by this PR: their agents are
byte-identical to main and never used `generate_a2ui`. `multimodal` is
the known
shared-CopilotKit frontend bug (`runStartCount=0`, the run never
starts);
`voice`/`hitl-approve-deny` complete the run but their text does not
settle inside
the probe's tight budget. All A2UI and default-agent cells pass.
Showcase Platform
Tagline: agent entry point for the showcase docs tree and from-scratch local setup. The fanout block below routes you to the right procedural doc.
Per-framework demos of CopilotKit (LangGraph, CrewAI, Mastra, Claude Agent SDK,
etc.). Each package is a Next.js frontend + agent backend bundled in a Docker
image. Railway deploys those images from main on push.
Agent Fanout — when X, see Y
| When you need to... | Read |
|---|---|
Turn a red cell green (cell red→green SOP, bin/showcase test CLI) |
./TESTING.md |
| Debug a failure mode locally (debugging loop, strategies, prod ops) | ./DEBUGGING.md |
Look up a framework / fixture / --isolate edge case |
./GOTCHAS.md |
| Add a brand-new integration (per-package + external setup) | ./INTEGRATION-CHECKLIST.md |
| Style a demo page (Tailwind v4, CopilotKit overrides, layout patterns) | ./STYLING-GUIDE.md |
| Reason about which shell renders what / consolidate a new frontend | ./FRONTEND-STRATEGY.md |
| Deploy / promote / pin / roll back a Railway service | ./RAILWAY.md (fleet config) + ./bin/README.md (bin/railway CLI) |
| Understand aimock fixture semantics (fixtures + Railway reconstruction) | ./aimock/README.md + ./aimock/RAILWAY.md |
| Operate showcase-harness (alerts, probes, hot reload, build/deploy) | ./harness/README.md + ./harness/docs/rotation-drill.md |
| Track or check per-slug deviations from canonical | ./integrations/<slug>/PARITY_NOTES.md |
Anything below is from-scratch local setup — skip if your stack is already up.
Layout
showcase/
bin/showcase # unified CLI — run showcase/bin/showcase <command> for help
bin/railway # Ruby tool for Railway ops (snapshot/promote/pin) — see bin/README.md
integrations/<slug>/ # one per framework (17 total) — Dockerfile, src/app/demos/*/, src/agents/ or equivalent
shell/ # hub: home page, /matrix, canonical /integrations/[slug]/[demo]/{preview,code}
shell-dashboard/ # internal-only feature × integration grid (port 3002)
harness/ # showcase-harness service — see harness/README.md
aimock/ # aimock fixtures + Railway config — see aimock/README.md
shared/
feature-registry.json # canonical features + categories (feeds the grid rows)
constraints.yaml # allowlist for which demos a package can expose
local-ports.json # deterministic host ports per package for local Docker runs
python/ typescript/tools/ # shared agent utility code; CI stages these into each build context
scripts/
dev-local.sh # low-level Docker Compose wrapper (prefer bin/showcase)
cli/ # command modules for bin/showcase
generate-registry.ts # builds shell/src/data/registry.json from all manifest.yaml
bundle-demo-content.ts # bundles per-demo source + README into shell/src/data/demo-content.json
docker-compose.local.yml # one service per package; ports from local-ports.json; env from .env
.env.example # commit template — copy to .env and fill in
Generated data files
The shell apps consume JSON data files that are generated at build time by
scripts in scripts/. These files are gitignored — every build path (Docker,
CI, npm run build, npm run dev) regenerates them automatically.
| File | Generator | Shell apps | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
registry.json |
generate-registry.ts |
shell, shell-docs, shell-dojo, shell-dashboard | Integration manifest — scans integrations/*/manifest.yaml, builds the full catalog with metadata, feature flags, categories |
demo-content.json |
bundle-demo-content.ts |
shell, shell-docs, shell-dojo | Bundled source code from every demo directory — powers the Code tab, Snippet components, dojo cell viewer |
constraints.json |
generate-registry.ts |
shell | Filter facets for the integration explorer (categories, frameworks, features) |
search-index.json |
generate-search-index.ts |
shell, shell-docs | Cmd-K search entries — scans MDX docs, AG-UI content, and registry data |
starter-content.json |
bundle-starter-content.ts |
shell | Starter template source bundles for the "Get Started" code viewer |
docs-status.json |
probe-docs.ts |
shell-dashboard | Per-feature docs reachability — HTTP HEAD on og_docs_url, file-exists check on shell-docs MDX |
Each generator writes to the src/data/ directory of every shell app that
consumes it. Shell apps are independent — no shell cross-imports another
shell's data directory.
Prerequisites
- macOS or Linux
- Homebrew
- Docker engine. Any of: Docker Desktop, Colima (recommended, no GUI / no sign-in), or OrbStack.
- Node 22+ and npm (for
shell/shell-dashboarddev servers — they're not in the compose)
Colima install (one time)
brew install colima docker docker-buildx docker-compose
# Tell the docker CLI where its plugins live
mkdir -p ~/.docker
cat > ~/.docker/config.json <<'JSON'
{
"cliPluginsExtraDirs": ["/opt/homebrew/lib/docker/cli-plugins"]
}
JSON
# Start the engine (adjust resources to taste; needed for building 17 images)
colima start --cpu 4 --memory 8 --disk 60
# Verify
docker compose version
Colima auto-starts with brew services start colima if you want it on login.
API keys
One .env file feeds every container. Not committed.
cp showcase/.env.example showcase/.env
# Edit showcase/.env and fill in:
# OPENAI_API_KEY=<required>
# ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=<optional; needed for Claude Agent SDK demos and a few others>
# LANGSMITH_API_KEY=<optional; enables LangSmith tracing for LangGraph demos>
Only OPENAI_API_KEY is strictly required. Missing optional keys fail
gracefully (per-package).
bin/showcase CLI — quick reference
For the full invocation table (control-plane vs --direct, per-demo scoping
matrix) and the cell red→green SOP, see
./TESTING.md. For
debugging workflows (aimock rebuild cycles, fixture validation, probe testing,
diagnostics), see ./DEBUGGING.md.
# from any directory — paths resolved relative to the script itself
./showcase/bin/showcase up langgraph-python # start infra + one integration
./showcase/bin/showcase test langgraph-python --d5 --isolate # run D5 probes (canonical)
./showcase/bin/showcase down # tear down
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
test <slug> |
Run probes against a running service (see TESTING.md for full flag table) |
up [slugs...] |
Start infra (aimock, pocketbase, dashboard) + named packages. No args = infra only |
down [slugs...] |
Stop services. No args = stop everything |
build [slugs...] |
Build Docker images |
rebuild <slug> |
Rebuild a slug (handles symlink deref that raw docker build cannot) |
recreate <slug> |
Force-recreate a service (picks up new image) |
restart <slug> |
Restart container (picks up src/ edits — see Iterating on a demo below) |
ps |
Show running services |
ports |
Print slug to host port mapping |
logs <slug> |
Follow container logs (supports --grep, --since, -n, --no-follow) |
doctor |
Check local environment and stack health |
Container exposes port 10000 internally → host port in
shared/local-ports.json. The image and entrypoint
are the same ones Railway runs.
Hooking local containers into the shell
The shell app's /preview route iframes integration.backend_url (Railway)
by default. Set SHOWCASE_LOCAL=1 when running shell to swap in the
localhost ports from local-ports.json instead — per-slug, falling back to
Railway for anything you don't have running.
cd showcase/shell
npm install # once
SHOWCASE_LOCAL=1 npm run dev # /preview iframes http://localhost:<port>/demos/...
In production the env var is unset → Railway URLs, unchanged.
shell-dashboard — feature × integration matrix
Internal overview of which packages support which features, linking to the
canonical /preview and /code routes on shell. Lives at
http://localhost:3002 and reads the same registry.json shell does.
cd showcase/shell-dashboard
npm install
npm run dev
Column ordering lives in shell-dashboard/src/lib/sort-order.ts — internal to
this app, not part of the public registry.
Iterating on a demo
- Edit the demo in
integrations/<slug>/src/app/demos/<demo-id>/page.tsx(and the backend undersrc/agents/if applicable). - Rebundle so
/codeinshellreflects the edit:cd showcase && npx tsx scripts/bundle-demo-content.ts. - If you changed
manifest.yamlor added a feature toshared/feature-registry.json:npx tsx scripts/generate-registry.ts. - Rebuild + restart the container:
showcase/bin/showcase up <slug>(orrestart <slug>for puresrc/edits — see DEBUGGING.md "Dev Iteration Speed"). - The grid in
shell-dashboardand/previewinshellnow show the new state.
Relationship to Railway
- Dockerfile,
entrypoint.sh, and build context (shared_python/,shared_typescript/) are shared between local and Railway. .github/workflows/showcase_deploy.ymlbuilds each image on push tomainand pushes it to Railway. Per-PR deploys are opt-in viagh workflow run showcase_deploy.yml -r <branch> -f service=<slug>.- The only real differences at runtime are env var values and the URL. If something works locally in Docker, it works on Railway (and vice versa).
Dashboard SOPs (catalog.json + PocketBase)
The dashboard at showcase.copilotkit.ai reads two data sources:
- Static
catalog.json— generated at build time bypnpm generate-registry. Contains the full 38-feature × 17-integration cell matrix with status (wired/stub/unshipped), parity tiers, and feature categories. Changes require a generator run + commit. - Live PocketBase probe results — streamed via SSE. Probes discover demo routes automatically and update the dashboard in real time. No manual intervention needed for probe data.
Known limitation — PocketBase fetch cap: useLiveStatus.ts fetches status
records with a hard INITIAL_CAP (currently 2000). PocketBase returns records
in rowid (creation) order. If the total record count exceeds the cap,
later-created dimensions (e.g. e2e:<slug>/<featureId> per-cell records from
the 6-hourly e2e-demos probe) get silently truncated, causing the dashboard to
show D2 instead of D4 across the board. If new probe types are added and the
dashboard regresses to D2, raise INITIAL_CAP in
shell-dashboard/src/hooks/useLiveStatus.ts. The correct long-term fix is
dimension-scoped fetching or sort=-updated so the cap never silently drops
functional records.
Key invariants:
- Parity tiers are never manually set. They are computed by comparing each integration's wired feature set against the reference integration's.
- The reference integration is auto-detected as the integration with the
most wired features (ties broken alphabetically). No
reference: trueflag exists. catalog.jsonis gitignored — the generator emits it into the shell apps'src/data/directories, which are already in.gitignore.- The
stubstatus means: feature declared in manifest, demo entry exists, but noroutefield. Today onlylanggraph-python/cli-startqualifies.
SOP 1: Wire a new demo on an existing integration
- Edit
showcase/integrations/<slug>/manifest.yaml— add the feature tofeatures[]and a correspondingdemos[]entry with aroute. - Run
pnpm generate-registry— updatesregistry.jsonANDcatalog.json. The cell flips fromunshippedtowired. Parity tiers auto-recompute. - Commit the manifest + both generated files. PR, merge.
- CI rebuilds the package image + dashboard image. Railway auto-deploys both.
- Ops probes discover the new demo route and begin probing. Dashboard updates live via PocketBase SSE — no further action needed.
SOP 2: Code fix on an existing demo (no manifest change)
- Edit code under
showcase/integrations/<slug>/src/.... - PR, merge. No generator run needed (manifest unchanged).
- CI rebuilds the package image. Railway auto-deploys.
- Probes re-probe on the next tick. If the fix turns a red cell green, the dashboard updates live. Zero manual steps beyond the normal PR workflow.
SOP 3: Add a brand-new integration
- Create
showcase/integrations/<new-slug>/manifest.yamlwithfeatures[]+demos[]. - Add
{"slug": "<new-slug>", "name": "<Display Name>"}toshowcase/shared/packages.json. - Provision a Railway service (manual:
railway service createor Dashboard UI). - Run
pnpm generate-registry— catalog gains 38 new cells (mostlyunshipped, somewired). Parity tier computed automatically. - Commit, PR, merge. CI + Railway deploy. Probes discover the new service automatically via the Railway discovery filter.
For the full per-package + external-setup checklist see
./INTEGRATION-CHECKLIST.md.
SOP 4: Reference migration (move the reference integration)
- No manual flag needed — the generator auto-detects the reference as the integration with the most wired features (ties broken alphabetically).
- If you want a different integration to be reference, wire more features on it until it leads the count.
- Run
pnpm generate-registry— all parity tiers recompute automatically. - Commit, PR, merge.