> ๐ง **Active development โ pre-1.0.** All 32 `@ggui-ai/*` packages ship in lockstep minor waves โ the badges below show the current one; the protocol is a draft and may still change between waves. Pin exact versions (see badges below) and watch [Releases](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/releases) for each wave's notes; `v1.0` marks the protocol freeze.
---
Agents describe what they need in natural language; GGUI generates ephemeral, interactive interfaces over MCP. No frontend code, no React templates, no custom components โ agents talk, users see UI.
This repo is the **open protocol + reference runtime**. Self-host with `ggui serve`; pair against any MCP-aware agent runtime (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, claude.ai, Cursor, ChatGPT desktop, Goose, your own). Zero account required, zero managed infrastructure required, zero cloud dependency.
---
## Quick start โ pick your path
### 1. Composed golden path โ platform-composed (guuey-sdk)
One flow from a `guuey.json` to a rendered, interactive todo UI โ every piece a published SDK. [guuey](https://guuey.com)'s dev tooling runs the agent (`@guuey/cli` + `@guuey/worker`), the GGUI runtime is the dev router's injected MCP default, and the web client talks to the router with `@guuey/agent-client`. This path is **platform-composed**: it drives the GGUI protocol through guuey's published SDKs. The protocol itself has no guuey dependency โ paths 2โ4 run without it, and the framework-native samples (path 2) stay first-class.
Prerequisites: **Node.js 22+**, **pnpm**, and an **`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`** (one key drives both the agent and GGUI's UI generation).
```bash
git clone https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui && cd ggui
pnpm install # workspace deps โ `guuey dev` spawns the colocated
# todo MCP from samples/mcp-servers/todo
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-โฆ # in every terminal below
# terminal 1 โ the ggui runtime MCP (guuey's dev router injects ggui โ this port)
npx -y @ggui-ai/cli serve --mcp-only # http://127.0.0.1:6781/mcp
# terminal 2 โ the agent half: guuey.json + a Claude agent worker
cd samples/agents/with-guuey
npm install
npm run dev # guuey dev --serve โ http://localhost:6790
# terminal 3 โ the web half: chat + rendered ggui cards
cd samples/apps/with-guuey-web
npm install
npm run dev # http://127.0.0.1:6890
```
**Browser-based clients.** Pages served from `localhost` reach the MCP
endpoint out of the box. A page on any other origin โ a deployed site,
an Electron renderer โ must be allowlisted:
```bash
ggui serve --browser-origin https://app.example.com
```
(repeatable; or `GGUI_BROWSER_ORIGINS=a,b`). The allowlist drives both
MCP-wire Origin validation and the CORS response headers, so one flag
covers both. It is not authentication โ `/mcp` still requires a bearer.
Non-browser clients (Claude Desktop, agents, curl) are unaffected: they
connect server-to-server and ignore CORS entirely.
Open **`http://127.0.0.1:6890`** and ask for your todos: the agent calls the todo MCP, renders an interactive todo UI through GGUI, and your clicks flow back to the agent. Per-sample detail (ports, env vars, known limitations): [`samples/agents/with-guuey`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/agents/with-guuey) ยท [`samples/apps/with-guuey-web`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/apps/with-guuey-web). Prefer a scaffolded start? `npx @guuey/create-agentic-app` scaffolds a guuey agentic app of the same shape (agent + MCP + GGUI + web) in one command.
> **Dev-server trust:** `guuey dev` runs your agent unjailed with your environment โ standard dev-server trust; run it in a container if that posture doesn't fit.
### 2. Bring your own framework โ build from the framework-native samples
The framework-native path to **ship an agent end-to-end** โ no guuey dependency. The canonical samples are complete, runnable pieces of an agentic app โ an agent backend per SDK, a stock GGUI server config, a reference MCP server, and a web client. Compose them into a workspace and run the whole thing:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui && cd ggui
# your app = four samples composed into one pnpm workspace:
# samples/agents// โ servers/agent/ (claude-agent-sdk | openai-agents-sdk | google-adk)
# samples/gguis/default/ โ servers/ggui/ (stock `ggui serve` config)
# samples/mcp-servers/todo/ โ servers/mcps/todo/ (reference domain MCP)
# samples/apps/ggui-basic-web/ โ apps/web/ (Vite + React chat client)
# (e2e/samples-render/app-shell/ is the reference root wrapper โ package.json
# with the dev scripts + pnpm-workspace.yaml + the `pnpm dev` orchestrator.)
pnpm install
# put your LLM API key in .env.local, then:
pnpm dev # starts ggui + MCP servers + agent + web, then opens the app
```
`pnpm dev` brings all four services up together and opens **`http://localhost:6890`** once it's ready โ so you never have to guess which port to visit (server logs are hidden by default; `pnpm dev --verbose` streams them). The full loop runs locally: you type โ the agent calls domain tools and renders a React UI โ you click in that UI โ the agent reacts. Each sample carries its own README with standalone run instructions.
Building a hosted agent instead? See [guuey.com](https://guuey.com) โ the managed platform for running agents (not a drop-in replacement for the samples path).
### 3. Self-host the OSS MCP server + test from claude.ai
For **testing the GGUI protocol against a real chat host**. Localhost won't work from claude.ai โ you need a public HTTPS URL, which [cloudflared](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/) provides for free.
```bash
# terminal 1 โ boot the OSS MCP server
npm install -g @ggui-ai/cli
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-โฆ ggui serve --mcp-only # http://127.0.0.1:6781/mcp
# terminal 2 โ expose it to the public internet (no Cloudflare account needed)
cloudflared tunnel --url http://127.0.0.1:6781 # prints https://.trycloudflare.com
```
**Browser-based clients.** Pages served from `localhost` reach the MCP
endpoint out of the box. A page on any other origin โ a deployed site,
an Electron renderer โ must be allowlisted:
```bash
ggui serve --browser-origin https://app.example.com
```
(repeatable; or `GGUI_BROWSER_ORIGINS=a,b`). The allowlist drives both
MCP-wire Origin validation and the CORS response headers, so one flag
covers both. It is not authentication โ `/mcp` still requires a bearer.
Non-browser clients (Claude Desktop, agents, curl) are unaffected: they
connect server-to-server and ignore CORS entirely.
Then in **claude.ai โ Settings โ Connectors โ Add custom connector**, paste `https://.trycloudflare.com/mcp`. Ask Claude to render any UI; the server generates the component and serves it back as a rich rendered card inside the chat.
Install cloudflared via your package manager: `brew install cloudflared` (macOS), `apt install cloudflared` (Debian), or grab a binary from [cloudflare.com/products/tunnel](https://www.cloudflare.com/products/tunnel/).
### 4. Use the hosted GGUI cloud โ `mcp.ggui.ai`
For **production**, sign in at [the GGUI console](https://console.ggui.ai) โ create an app โ mint a connector key. Paste the bare `https://mcp.ggui.ai` endpoint into your chat host's connector settings โ no self-hosting, no tunnel, no key management.
---
## The `ggui` CLI
`@ggui-ai/cli` ships the `ggui` binary โ the single entrypoint for every OSS workflow. Five verbs cover the full lifecycle:
| Verb | What it does |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `ggui serve` | Boot the OSS MCP server (`/mcp`), session viewer (`/r/`), pairing endpoints, and live-channel WebSocket. `--mcp-only` skips agent supervision โ fastest first-run. `--port`, `--host` adjust binding. |
| `ggui dev` | Local UI registry + compile-on-demand dev hub for iterating on a `ggui.json` project. Optional tunnel, agent supervision, browser auto-open. Run `ggui --help` for the full flag list. |
| `ggui blueprint` | Author + publish + install cached UI templates โ `create`, `publish`, `install`. Blueprints make a known screen cheap, repeatable, and visually consistent by matching before falling back to full LLM generation. |
| `ggui gadget` | Author + publish + install client-side libraries (maps, charts, camera, clipboard, anything) wrapped as GGUI hooks/components so the generator can use them โ `create`, `publish`, `install`. |
| `ggui theme` | Validate and inspect `ggui.json#theme` DTCG documents โ `ggui theme validate `. Catches schema errors before they reach the runtime. |
Plus auth verbs for the hosted path: `ggui login` / `ggui logout` / `ggui whoami` / `ggui keys`. Run `ggui --help` for the top-level overview, or `ggui --help` for per-command flags.
Full CLI reference: [`@ggui-ai/cli` README](./packages/ggui-cli/README.md).
---
## Runnable examples
[`samples/`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples) holds end-to-end examples you can clone:
- [`samples/gguis/`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/gguis) โ ready-to-run project configs (`default`, `leaflet-demo`, `mapbox-demo`, `canvas-demo`) showing how a `ggui.json` is shaped.
- [`samples/agents/`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/agents) โ framework-native reference agents per SDK (Claude Agent SDK, OpenAI Agents SDK, Google ADK) talking to GGUI as an MCP server.
- [`samples/agents/with-guuey`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/agents/with-guuey) + [`samples/apps/with-guuey-web`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/apps/with-guuey-web) โ the **platform-composed (guuey-sdk)** golden-path pair: a `guuey.json` Claude agent served by `@guuey/cli`'s dev router, and a web client on `@guuey/agent-client` rendering GGUI cards (see [path 1](#1-composed-golden-path--platform-composed-guuey-sdk) above).
- [`samples/gadgets/`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/gadgets) โ example component / hook gadgets for the marketplace.
- [`samples/mcp-servers/`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/mcp-servers) โ minimal domain MCP servers (e.g. a todo server) you can pair against.
### Honest scope today
- โ Local server, viewer, cookie-authenticated WebSocket subscribe โ ack all work end-to-end.
- โ `ggui_render` mints shortCodes and lands on the same-origin viewer.
- โ Component-code generation is wired on the OSS path via `createUiGenerator()` from `@ggui-ai/ui-gen` (the same harness the hosted runtime uses). When no BYOK credentials resolve (no `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` / `OPENAI_API_KEY` / etc.), `ggui_render` returns an `isError: true` tool result whose `structuredContent.error.code` is `NO_CREDENTIALS`; supply a key to get full generation locally.
- ๐ Default auth is dev-mode (any non-empty bearer โ `builder`). Swap in a real `AuthAdapter` via `createGguiServer({ auth })` before exposing beyond `127.0.0.1`.
## How it works
```
โโโโโโโโโโโ MCP Tools โโโโโโโโโโโโ WebSocket โโโโโโโโโโโโ
โ Your โ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ โ ggui โ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ โ User's โ
โ Agent โ ggui_render โ server โ real-time UI โ browser โ
โ โ ggui_update โ โ updates โ โ
โ โ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ โ โ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ โ โ
โ โ user events โ โ clicks, forms โ โ
โโโโโโโโโโโ โโโโโโโโโโโโ โโโโโโโโโโโโ
```
Your agent uses MCP tools to push UIs and receive user events. The protocol is defined by `@ggui-ai/protocol`; the reference server lives in `@ggui-ai/mcp-server`; embedding host-helpers ship in `@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react` (web) and `@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react-native` (React Native).
### MCP tools (primary surface)
| Tool | Description |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| `ggui_render` | Render a UI for the user (natural-language prompt + data) |
| `ggui_update` | Update props on an existing UI (no regeneration, ~200ms) |
| `ggui_handshake` | Initial session bootstrap |
| `ggui_consume` | Long-poll for user gestures (clicks, form submits) |
Plus a blueprint family (`ggui_search_blueprints`, `ggui_render_blueprint`, `ggui_list_featured_blueprints`, โฆ) for catalogue lookups. Full reference: [MCP Protocol Reference](https://docs.ggui.ai/api/mcp-protocol/).
### Zero agent code (MCP config only)
If your agent runtime supports MCP natively, skip the SDK entirely. Add `ggui serve` as an MCP server:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"ggui": {
"url": "http://127.0.0.1:6781/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer dev" }
}
}
}
```
The runtime's native tool-calling loop discovers `ggui_render`, `ggui_update`, `ggui_consume`, and the blueprint catalogue tools directly. Working examples per framework: [Claude](https://docs.ggui.ai/examples/claude-agent/), [OpenAI](https://docs.ggui.ai/examples/openai-agent/), [Gemini](https://docs.ggui.ai/examples/gemini-agent/), [generic MCP](https://docs.ggui.ai/examples/generic-mcp/).
## Embedding UIs
On web, `` โ imported directly from `@mcp-ui/client`, the spec-canonical MCP Apps host โ is the canonical consumer primitive, driven by GGUI's `useMcpAppsChat` hook from `@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react`. `` mounts each GGUI render inside a sandboxed iframe; the iframe owns the WebSocket lifecycle and renderer bundle, so host code never touches render internals or WebSocket machinery directly.
```bash
npm install @ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react @mcp-ui/client
```
```tsx
import { AppRenderer } from "@mcp-ui/client";
import { useMcpAppsChat } from "@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react/chat-helpers";
function Chat({ agentUrl, sandboxUrl }: { agentUrl: string; sandboxUrl: string }) {
const { sessions, send, handleAppMessage } = useMcpAppsChat({
chatEndpoint: `${agentUrl}/agent`,
});
// render `entries` as chat bubbles; call send(prompt) to talk to the agent.
// onReadResource / onCallTool relay through your agent backend โ see the
// full runnable reference below for the wiring.
const latest = sessions[sessions.length - 1];
return latest ? (
console.warn("render error", err)}
/>
) : null;
}
```
The complete runnable reference โ including auth, sandbox relay, and tool-call wiring โ is the [`ggui-basic-web`](https://github.com/ggui-ai/ggui/tree/main/samples/apps/ggui-basic-web) sample. **Start there.**
React Native's equivalent host is `` from `@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react-native` โ RN-only; there is no `` on web.
Implementer references for the full protocol: [React host helpers](https://docs.ggui.ai/sdk/react/), [Architecture overview](https://docs.ggui.ai/architecture/overview/), [MCP Apps support](https://docs.ggui.ai/api/mcp-apps/), [WebSocket protocol](https://docs.ggui.ai/api/websocket-protocol/).
For non-React frameworks, embed the viewer directly:
```html
```
## Packages
Consumer-facing surface โ what you `npm install`:
| Package | Purpose | npm |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [`@ggui-ai/cli`](./packages/ggui-cli) | The `ggui` binary โ `serve`, `dev`, `blueprint`, `gadget`, `theme` | [](https://npmjs.com/package/@ggui-ai/cli) |
| [`@ggui-ai/mcp-server`](./packages/mcp-server) | Reference OSS server (programmatic embedding) | [](https://npmjs.com/package/@ggui-ai/mcp-server) |
| [`@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react`](./packages/mcp-apps-react) | React web host helpers โ `useMcpAppsChat` + MCP-Apps chat hook | [](https://npmjs.com/package/@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react) |
| [`@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react-native`](./packages/mcp-apps-react-native) | React Native host helpers โ `` MCP-Apps host + shells | [](https://npmjs.com/package/@ggui-ai/mcp-apps-react-native) |
| [`@ggui-ai/protocol`](./packages/protocol) | Wire types (events, sessions, WebSocket, MCP envelopes) | [](https://npmjs.com/package/@ggui-ai/protocol) |
| [`@ggui-ai/gadgets`](./packages/gadgets) | Author wrappers for 3rd-party libs (Leaflet, Mapbox, โฆ) | [](https://npmjs.com/package/@ggui-ai/gadgets) |
Plus 27 supporting packages under [`packages/`](./packages) spanning the runtime (`@ggui-ai/mcp-server-core`, `@ggui-ai/mcp-server-handlers`, `@ggui-ai/ui-gen`, `@ggui-ai/negotiator`), authoring (`@ggui-ai/project-config`, `@ggui-ai/ui-registry`), registry (`@ggui-ai/registry-core`, `@ggui-ai/registry-server`), and dev tooling (`@ggui-ai/dev-stack`, `@ggui-ai/agent-runtime`, `@ggui-ai/console`). See each subdirectory for details.
## Hosted providers
Self-hosting is the primary path. For managed infrastructure (no server to run, no LLM key to wire, hosted dashboards), the first-party hosted endpoint at **`mcp.ggui.ai`** is live โ see [path 4](#4-use-the-hosted-ggui-cloud--mcpgguiai) above. [Guuey](https://guuey.com) hosts an upgraded experience built on top of the protocol. The protocol is identical on all paths โ you can move between self-hosted and hosted without rewriting anything against this SDK.
## Contributing
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md). Issues + PRs welcome.
## License
Apache 2.0 โ see [LICENSE](./LICENSE).
