The curriculum

Eight modules from “what is it” to “I could build and audit this.”

Read in order the first time. Each module pairs an essay with the labs that make it concrete, primary sources to go deeper, and questions to check you actually understood it. Budget about two weeks at an hour a day.

1. 00
   Start here8 min read

   What generative UI is (and isn't)

   A precise definition, three questions that classify any generative UI system, the seven-rung spectrum, and the misconceptions that make most takes on this topic wrong.

   LabsReading module
2. 01
   Start here7 min read

   The raw materials

   Every generative interface is built from four primitives — structured output, tool calls, streams, and typed message parts. Understand these and every framework becomes a variation you can read.

   Labs01 One intent, seven interfaces
3. 02
   Core11 min read

   The protocol stack

   AG-UI, A2UI, MCP Apps, the OpenAI Apps SDK, json-render, OpenUI, WebMCP — most confusion disappears once you see they answer different questions on different layers. This module maps the stack as of November 2026, with the details that matter in production.

   Labs03 Render before the brace closes07 One card, six protocols
4. 03
   Core10 min read

   Where state lives

   A generative interface is a negotiated view of five stores of state that change at different speeds and belong to different parties. This module is about keeping them honest — snapshots and deltas, shared state and conflicts, streaming, interrupts, checkpoints and persistence.

   Labs02 Watch an agent run, one event at a time04 Two writers, one state06 Graphs, checkpoints, time travel
5. 04
   Core10 min read

   Building it for real

   The frameworks you'll actually install — CopilotKit, the Vercel AI SDK, assistant-ui, LangGraph, json-render and friends — mapped by what they do, with the same feature built in each, a decision guide, and the anti-patterns that bite in production.

   Labs09 When the model draws the chart
6. 05
   Advanced7 min read

   Interfaces agents can use

   Generative UI has a second direction. Agents increasingly operate interfaces built for people — through pixels, through the accessibility tree, or through tools a page declares. This module is about designing for that reverse channel, and why it turns out to be the same work as designing well for people.

   Labs08 The page as an agent reads it
7. 06
   Advanced8 min read

   Trust, consent and evaluation

   Generated interfaces fail differently from hand-built ones — they can be manipulative by default, hijacked through their context, or perfectly rendered and wrong. This module covers the defences, from sandboxes and catalogs to consent scaled by consequence, and how to test what a generated screen actually does.

   Labs05 Confirmation before effect
8. 07
   Advanced7 min read

   The frontier

   Where the research is, what it has proven, what it can't yet see, and the open problems a practitioner can actually work on — plus the essays and classics that keep the field honest.

   LabsReading module