ai-sdk-6-skills

name	ai-sdk-6-skills
description	AI SDK 6 Beta overview, agents, tool approval, Groq (Llama), and Vercel AI Gateway. Key breaking changes from v5 and new patterns.

Links

• AI SDK 6 Beta Docs: https://v6.ai-sdk.dev/docs/announcing-ai-sdk-6-beta
• Groq Provider: https://v6.ai-sdk.dev/providers/ai-sdk-providers/groq
• Vercel AI Gateway: https://v6.ai-sdk.dev/providers/ai-sdk-providers/ai-gateway
• AI SDK GitHub: https://github.com/vercel/ai
• Groq Console Models: https://console.groq.com/docs/models

Installation

pnpm add ai@beta @ai-sdk/openai@beta @ai-sdk/react@beta @ai-sdk/groq@beta

Note: Pin versions during beta as breaking changes may occur in patch releases.

What's New in AI SDK 6?

1. Agent Abstraction (New)

Unified interface for building agents with full control over execution flow, tool loops, and state management.

import { ToolLoopAgent } from 'ai';
import { tool } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const weatherTool = tool({
  description: 'Get weather for a location',
  inputSchema: z.object({ city: z.string() }),
  execute: async ({ city }) => ({ temperature: 72, condition: 'sunny' }),
});

const agent = new ToolLoopAgent({
  model: 'groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile', // or any model
  instructions: 'You are a helpful weather assistant.',
  tools: { weather: weatherTool },
});

// Use the agent
const result = await agent.generate({
  prompt: 'What is the weather in San Francisco?',
});

console.log(result.output);

2. Tool Execution Approval (New)

Request user confirmation before executing sensitive tools.

import { tool } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const paymentTool = tool({
  description: 'Process a payment',
  inputSchema: z.object({
    amount: z.number(),
    recipient: z.string(),
  }),
  needsApproval: true, // Require approval
  execute: async ({ amount, recipient }) => {
    return { success: true, id: 'txn-123' };
  },
});

Client-side approval UI:

export function PaymentToolView({ invocation, addToolApprovalResponse }) {
  if (invocation.state === 'approval-requested') {
    return (
      <div>
        <p>Process payment of ${invocation.input.amount} to {invocation.input.recipient}?</p>
        <button
          onClick={() =>
            addToolApprovalResponse({
              id: invocation.approval.id,
              approved: true,
            })
          }
        >
          Approve
        </button>
        <button
          onClick={() =>
            addToolApprovalResponse({
              id: invocation.approval.id,
              approved: false,
            })
          }
        >
          Deny
        </button>
      </div>
    );
  }
  return null;
}

3. Structured Output + Tool Calling (Stable)

Combine tool calling with structured output generation:

import { ToolLoopAgent, Output } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const agent = new ToolLoopAgent({
  model: 'groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile',
  tools: { /* ... */ },
  output: Output.object({
    schema: z.object({
      summary: z.string(),
      temperature: z.number(),
      recommendation: z.string(),
    }),
  }),
});

const { output } = await agent.generate({
  prompt: 'What is the weather in San Francisco and what should I wear?',
});

console.log(output);
// { summary: '...', temperature: 72, recommendation: '...' }

4. Reranking Support (New)

Improve search relevance by reordering documents:

import { rerank } from 'ai';
import { cohere } from '@ai-sdk/cohere';

const { ranking } = await rerank({
  model: cohere.reranking('rerank-v3.5'),
  documents: [
    'sunny day at the beach',
    'rainy afternoon in the city',
    'snowy night in the mountains',
  ],
  query: 'talk about rain',
  topN: 2,
});

console.log(ranking);
// [
//   { originalIndex: 1, score: 0.9, document: 'rainy afternoon...' },
//   { originalIndex: 0, score: 0.3, document: 'sunny day...' }
// ]

Migration from AI SDK 5

Minimal breaking changes expected. Most AI SDK 5 code will work with little modification.

Key differences:

• Agent abstraction replaces ad-hoc patterns; consider migrating to ToolLoopAgent.
• Structured output now works with generateText / streamText (requires stopWhen).
• @ai-sdk/* packages may have minor API adjustments during beta.

Groq Provider (Open Weight Models)

Setup

pnpm add @ai-sdk/groq

Environment:

GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key

Open Weight Models Available

Popular Groq models for AI SDK 6:

• llama-3.3-70b-versatile (Llama 3.3, 70B, balanced)
• llama-3.1-8b-instant (Llama 3.1, 8B, fast)
• mixtral-8x7b-32768 (Mixture of Experts)
• gemma2-9b-it (Google Gemma 2)
• qwen/qwen3-32b (Qwen 3)

See Groq console for full list.

Basic Llama Example

import { groq } from '@ai-sdk/groq';
import { generateText } from 'ai';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: groq('llama-3.3-70b-versatile'),
  prompt: 'Write a TypeScript function to compute Fibonacci.',
});

console.log(text);

Structured Output with Llama (Groq)

import { groq } from '@ai-sdk/groq';
import { generateObject } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const result = await generateObject({
  model: groq('llama-3.3-70b-versatile'),
  schema: z.object({
    recipe: z.object({
      name: z.string(),
      ingredients: z.array(z.string()),
      instructions: z.array(z.string()),
    }),
  }),
  prompt: 'Generate a simple pasta recipe.',
  providerOptions: {
    groq: {
      structuredOutputs: true, // Enable for supported models
    },
  },
});

console.log(JSON.stringify(result.object, null, 2));

Tool Use with Llama (Groq)

import { groq } from '@ai-sdk/groq';
import { generateText, tool } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const weatherTool = tool({
  description: 'Get weather for a city',
  inputSchema: z.object({ city: z.string() }),
  execute: async ({ city }) => ({ temp: 72, condition: 'sunny' }),
});

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: groq('llama-3.3-70b-versatile'),
  prompt: 'What is the weather in NYC and LA?',
  tools: { weather: weatherTool },
});

console.log(text);

Reasoning Models (Groq)

Groq offers reasoning models like qwen/qwen3-32b and deepseek-r1-distill-llama-70b:

import { groq } from '@ai-sdk/groq';
import { generateText } from 'ai';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: groq('qwen/qwen3-32b'),
  providerOptions: {
    groq: {
      reasoningFormat: 'parsed', // 'parsed', 'hidden', or 'raw'
      reasoningEffort: 'default', // low, medium, high
    },
  },
  prompt: 'How many "r"s are in the word "strawberry"?',
});

console.log(text);

Image Input with Llama (Groq Multi-Modal)

import { groq } from '@ai-sdk/groq';
import { generateText } from 'ai';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: groq('meta-llama/llama-4-scout-17b-16e-instruct'), // Multi-modal model
  messages: [
    {
      role: 'user',
      content: [
        { type: 'text', text: 'What is in this image?' },
        { type: 'image', image: 'https://example.com/image.jpg' },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

console.log(text);

Vercel AI Gateway

What It Is

A unified interface to access models from 20+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, xAI, Mistral, etc.) through a single API. Requires Vercel account and credit card.

Setup

AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY=your_gateway_api_key

Get your key from Vercel Dashboard > AI Gateway.

⚠️ Note: Credit card required for Gateway usage. You will be billed for model calls routed through the gateway.

Authentication

API Key Authentication

Set via environment variable or directly in code:

import { createGateway } from 'ai';

const gateway = createGateway({
  apiKey: process.env.AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY,
});

OIDC Authentication (Vercel Deployments)

When deployed to Vercel, use OIDC tokens for automatic authentication (no API key needed):

Production/Preview: Automatic OIDC handling, no setup required.

Local Development:

1. Install & authenticate Vercel CLI: vercel login
2. Pull OIDC token: vercel env pull
3. Use vercel dev to start dev server (handles token refresh automatically)

Note: OIDC tokens expire after 12 hours; use vercel dev for automatic refresh, or run vercel env pull again manually.

# Start dev with automatic token management
vercel dev

Basic Usage

import { generateText } from 'ai';

// Plain model string format: creator/model-name
const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'openai/gpt-5',
  prompt: 'Explain quantum computing.',
});

console.log(text);

Gateway Instance

import { createGateway } from 'ai';

const gateway = createGateway({
  apiKey: process.env.AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY,
});

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: gateway('anthropic/claude-sonnet-4'),
  prompt: 'Write a haiku about AI.',
});

console.log(text);

Model Discovery (Dynamic)

import { gateway } from 'ai';

const availableModels = await gateway.getAvailableModels();

availableModels.models.forEach((model) => {
  console.log(`${model.id}: ${model.name}`);
  if (model.pricing) {
    console.log(`  Input: $${model.pricing.input}/token`);
    console.log(`  Output: $${model.pricing.output}/token`);
  }
});

// Use first model
const { text } = await generateText({
  model: availableModels.models[0].id,
  prompt: 'Hello world',
});

Check Credit Usage

import { gateway } from 'ai';

const credits = await gateway.getCredits();
console.log(`Balance: ${credits.balance} credits`);
console.log(`Total used: ${credits.total_used} credits`);

Streaming with Gateway

import { streamText } from 'ai';

const { textStream } = await streamText({
  model: 'openai/gpt-5',
  prompt: 'Explain serverless architecture.',
});

for await (const chunk of textStream) {
  process.stdout.write(chunk);
}

Tool Use with Gateway

import { generateText, tool } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const weatherTool = tool({
  description: 'Get weather',
  inputSchema: z.object({ location: z.string() }),
  execute: async ({ location }) => `Sunny in ${location}`,
});

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'xai/grok-4', // Via Gateway
  prompt: 'What is the weather in SF?',
  tools: { getWeather: weatherTool },
});

console.log(text);

Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)

Connect your own provider credentials to Gateway for private resource access:

import { generateText } from 'ai';
import type { GatewayProviderOptions } from '@ai-sdk/gateway';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4',
  prompt: 'Use my Anthropic account',
  providerOptions: {
    gateway: {
      byok: {
        anthropic: [{ apiKey: 'sk-ant-...' }],
      },
    } satisfies GatewayProviderOptions,
  },
});

Set up BYOK credentials in Vercel team's AI Gateway settings; no code changes needed after configuration.

Provider-Executed Tools

Some providers offer tools executed server-side (e.g., OpenAI web search). Use through Gateway by importing the provider:

import { generateText, stepCountIs } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';

const result = await generateText({
  model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
  prompt: 'What is the Vercel AI Gateway?',
  stopWhen: stepCountIs(10),
  tools: {
    web_search: openai.tools.webSearch({}),
  },
});

console.log(result.text);

Note: Tools requiring account-specific configuration (e.g., Claude Agent Skills) may need direct provider access via BYOK.

Provider Routing & Fallback

Core Routing Options:

• order: Try providers in sequence (fallback priority)
• only: Restrict to specific providers only
• models: Fallback to alternative models if primary fails
• user: Track usage per end-user
• tags: Categorize requests for analytics
• zeroDataRetention: Only use providers with zero data retention
• byok: Request-scoped BYOK credentials

Example: Provider & Model Fallback

import { generateText } from 'ai';
import type { GatewayProviderOptions } from '@ai-sdk/gateway';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'openai/gpt-4o', // Primary model
  prompt: 'Write a TypeScript haiku',
  providerOptions: {
    gateway: {
      order: ['vertex', 'anthropic'], // Try Vertex AI first, then Anthropic
      only: ['vertex', 'anthropic'], // Only allow these providers
      models: ['openai/gpt-5-nano', 'gemini-2.0-flash'], // Fallback models
      user: 'user-123',
      tags: ['code-gen', 'v2'],
    } satisfies GatewayProviderOptions,
  },
});

// Fallback sequence:
// 1. Try vertex with openai/gpt-4o
// 2. Try anthropic with openai/gpt-4o
// 3. Try vertex with openai/gpt-5-nano
// 4. Try anthropic with openai/gpt-5-nano
// etc.

Example: Usage Tracking

import { generateText } from 'ai';
import type { GatewayProviderOptions } from '@ai-sdk/gateway';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4',
  prompt: 'Summarize this document...',
  providerOptions: {
    gateway: {
      user: 'user-abc-123', // Track per end-user
      tags: ['document-summary', 'premium-feature'],
    } satisfies GatewayProviderOptions,
  },
});

// View analytics by user and feature in Vercel Dashboard

Zero Data Retention

Route requests only to providers with zero data retention policies for sensitive data:

import { generateText } from 'ai';
import type { GatewayProviderOptions } from '@ai-sdk/gateway';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4',
  prompt: 'Process sensitive document...',
  providerOptions: {
    gateway: {
      zeroDataRetention: true, // Enforce zero data retention
    } satisfies GatewayProviderOptions,
  },
});

When zeroDataRetention: true, Gateway only routes to providers that don't retain your data. No enforcement applied if omitted or false.

Key Concepts

Call Options for Agents

Dynamically configure agents at runtime:

import { ToolLoopAgent } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';

const supportAgent = new ToolLoopAgent({
  model: 'groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile',
  callOptionsSchema: z.object({
    userId: z.string(),
    accountType: z.enum(['free', 'pro', 'enterprise']),
  }),
  instructions: 'You are a support agent.',
  prepareCall: ({ options, ...settings }) => ({
    ...settings,
    instructions:
      settings.instructions +
      `\nUser: ${options.userId}, Account: ${options.accountType}`,
  }),
});

const result = await supportAgent.generate({
  prompt: 'How do I upgrade?',
  options: {
    userId: 'user-456',
    accountType: 'free',
  },
});

UI Integration with React

import { createAgentUIStreamResponse } from 'ai';
import { useChat } from '@ai-sdk/react';
import { InferAgentUIMessage } from 'ai';

// Server-side
export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const { messages } = await request.json();
  return createAgentUIStreamResponse({
    agent: weatherAgent,
    messages,
  });
}

// Client-side
type AgentMessage = InferAgentUIMessage<typeof weatherAgent>;
const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat<AgentMessage>();

Best Practices

Groq

• Use llama-3.3-70b-versatile for balanced performance and cost.
• Use llama-3.1-8b-instant for low-latency, lightweight tasks.
• Enable parallelToolCalls: true (default) for faster multi-tool execution.
• Use serviceTier: 'flex' for 10x rate limits if you can tolerate occasional failures.

Vercel AI Gateway

• Always add credit card; gateway is pay-per-token.
• Use only / order to control routing and costs.
• Use user and tags for spend tracking and debugging.
• Enable zeroDataRetention for sensitive data.
• Check gateway.getCredits() regularly to monitor usage.

Agents

• Use ToolLoopAgent as a starting point; extend only if needed.
• Combine structured output with tool calling for rich responses.
• Use tool approval for payment/deletion operations.
• Set stopWhen to control loop iterations (default: stepCountIs(20)).

Common Patterns

RAG Agent

const ragAgent = new ToolLoopAgent({
  model: 'groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile',
  tools: {
    searchDocs: tool({
      description: 'Search documentation',
      inputSchema: z.object({ query: z.string() }),
      execute: async ({ query }) => {
        // Call vector DB (Upstash, Pinecone, etc.)
        return { docs: [/* ... */] };
      },
    }),
  },
  instructions: 'Answer questions by searching docs.',
});

Multi-Provider with Fallback

const { text } = await generateText({
  model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4',
  prompt: 'Complex task requiring reasoning',
  providerOptions: {
    gateway: {
      models: ['openai/gpt-5', 'gemini-2.0-flash'],
    },
  },
});

Cost-Optimized Selection

const isSensitive = userQuery.includes('payment');
const model = isSensitive 
  ? 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4' 
  : 'openai/gpt-5-nano';

const { text } = await generateText({
  model,
  prompt: userQuery,
});

Timeline

• AI SDK 6 Beta: Available now (pin versions)
• Stable Release: End of 2025