Chat SDK

Chat SDK is a tool built and released by Vercel that comes with the chat interface already put together, like prefab interior fittings. It gives developers ready-to-use screen elements — the chat window, the effect of messages typing themselves out, loading indicators — so they don't have to build them from scratch every time. It's similar to bringing in a finished storefront set instead of designing a café's interior piece by piece when opening a new shop.

The key point is that Chat SDK only handles the screen. The actual work behind the screen — answering questions, generating files, handling bookings — has to be connected separately. So developers use Chat SDK to quickly put together the interface, then attach a separate program that acts as the brain actually doing the work, to complete the service.

The article explains that "Vercel's Chat SDK handles the surface, while the Claude managed agent handles what's behind it." A common misunderstanding is thinking Chat SDK itself is the AI brain that answers questions — but in reality it only provides the interface, and generating answers is handled by a separately connected agent.

1. Download the anthropics/claude-quickstarts repository from GitHub.
2. Navigate to the managed-agents/chat-sdk path.
3. Enter your own API key and agent configuration values into the provided config file.
4. Run the command specified in the repository exactly as written and check that the interface loads.
5. Once it's up, adjust only the agent-side settings to fit your own service.