tambo

Generative components render once in response to a message, then stay put. You register a component with a name, a description, and a props schema, and the agent decides when to show it. Charts, data visualizations, and summary cards fit this pattern. The agent writes the props, so your existing styling and logic carry over untouched. When a user asks for a breakdown of last quarter's numbers, they get a real chart in your brand colors instead of a wall of text they have to parse.

Interactable components persist on the page and update by ID across conversations. A shopping cart, a task board, or a spreadsheet keeps its state while the user keeps chatting. The AI stops outputting answers and starts editing a living piece of your interface. This pattern is what separates Tambo from a plain text chatbot. Big difference.

Tambo ships with its own agent, so you don't need to bolt on an external framework. It handles progressive prop updates, message thread history, and error handling as responses arrive. Users see components fill in as data streams, which reads as faster than waiting for a full response. You get the boring parts of AI UX handled for free. That's the point. Nobody wants to rebuild cancellation logic for the fifth time.

The SDK connects to databases, APIs, and outside systems through the Model Context Protocol. That lets the agent reach real data rather than inventing it, and it works from either the client or the server side. For teams who already run MCP servers, this is the cleanest way to give the agent hands. Wiring an existing database into a chat-driven interface used to take a custom integration for every source, and this collapses that work into a single connection point.

You pick how the backend runs. Self-host it for full control, or use Tambo Cloud for a faster start with a managed key. The starter CLI writes your API key straight into the env file, so the first request works with little ceremony. No config hunting. Teams with strict data rules can keep everything inside their own walls, while teams that just want to ship can lean on the hosted option and never touch a server config.

Registration is declarative. You describe the component, hand over a props schema built with Zod, and the agent uses that contract to stream valid props. Because the pattern relies on Zod, it plugs into the workflow many React teams already use. It also means a component shows up in the right place without manual routing. No glue code. No switch statements.