interfaces for humans

Map

The field on one page.

The layers, the players on each, and how we got here. Updated as the field moves.

Fig. 1 — The generative UI stacked. 2026.11
  1. 06Personattention, intent, consentthe only layer that can say yes
  2. 05Host & sandboxwhere generated UI is allowed to runMCP AppsOpenAI Apps SDKartifactsiframes + CSP
  3. 04UI descriptionwhat to draw: components, specs, or codeA2UIjson-renderOpenUItool → component
  4. 03Agent ↔ UI transportevents, state deltas, tool calls, interruptsAG-UISSE / WebSocketAI SDK UI stream
  5. 02Agent runtimeplans, graphs, memory, checkpointsLangGraphGoogle ADKMastraAI SDKCrewAI
  6. 01Tools & other agentsAPIs, data, delegated workMCPA2A
  7. 00Modeltokens: text, JSON, codestructured outputtool calling
reverse channel · WebMCP · a11y tree · computer use
Read top-down for how an answer becomes a screen; read the blue rail bottom-up for how an agent reads and operates a screen. Most confusion about “which protocol wins” disappears once you see they sit on different layers.

Who builds what

agent-ui-runtime

protocol-sdk

chat-ui-kit

spec-renderer

gen-ui-sdk

ui-from-api-service

agent-framework

hosted-chat-app-sdk

canvas-multiplayer

app-generator

Timeline

2023
  1. 2023-03-23OpenAI: ChatGPT plugins launched (third-party tools inside chat, text-only output)First 'apps in chat' attempt; deprecated in 2024. Precursor to Apps SDK.
  2. 2023-10-11Vercel: v0 announced as a 'Generative UI' product (prompt → React/shadcn code)Popularised the term 'generative UI' (design-time code generation).
2024
  1. 2024-03-01Vercel: AI SDK 3.0 with Generative UI: stream React Server Components from LLM tool calls (render / createStreamableUI, later streamUI)Defined runtime generative UI as 'tool call → component'; RSC path later marked experimental.
  2. 2024-03-22Nielsen Norman Group: 'Generative UI and Outcome-Oriented Design' (Moran & Gibbons)Mainstream UX framing: designers set constraints, not screens; warns about ever-changing interfaces.
  3. 2024-06-20Anthropic: Claude 3.5 Sonnet launches with Artifacts (live-rendered code/UI side panel)Made 'model renders runnable UI in a sandbox' mainstream for consumers.
  4. 2024-07-08CopilotKit: CopilotKit v1.0 with generative UI hooks and GraphQL protocolEarly in-app copilot + generative UI framework; precursor of AG-UI.
  5. 2024-08-27Anthropic: Artifacts generally available to all Claude users incl. mobileMass distribution of sandboxed generated UI.
  6. 2024-10-03OpenAI: ChatGPT canvas launchedOpenAI's answer to Artifacts: side-by-side editable surface.
  7. 2024-11-25Anthropic: Model Context Protocol (MCP) open-sourcedBecomes the substrate that MCP-UI, Apps SDK and MCP Apps build on.
2025
  1. 2025-01-28Netlify: Mathias Biilmann coins 'Agent Experience (AX)'Names the discipline of designing products for agents as users.
  2. 2025-03-21Microsoft: Playwright MCP server releasedBrowser substrate for agents and for validating UI (39k stars by Nov 2026).
  3. 2025-04-18Thesys: C1 launched as 'the first Generative UI API' (LLM responses as live UI components)First commercial gen-UI API; later open-sourced as OpenUI.
  4. 2025-05-07Figma: Figma Make announced at Config 2025 (prompt-to-app inside Figma)Design tool incumbent enters prompt-to-app.
  5. 2025-05-12CopilotKit: AG-UI (Agent-User Interaction protocol) launched with LangGraph, CrewAI, Mastra, AG2 integrationsEvent protocol between agent backends and frontends; later adopted by Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle.
  6. 2025-05-13MCP-UI (Ido Salomon, Liad Yosef): MCP-UI SDK created: UI resources returned from MCP tools rendered in iframesCommunity pattern that became the basis of the official MCP Apps extension.
  7. 2025-05-20Google: Stitch (Google Labs) launched at I/O 2025 (prompt/image → UI designs + front-end code)Google's AI UI design tool, built on the Galileo AI acquisition.
  8. 2025-05-29Lovable: CVE-2025-48757: 170 of 1,645 scanned Lovable apps exposed data via missing Supabase RLSCanonical 'vibe-coded app' security failure.
  9. 2025-06-25Anthropic: AI-powered apps inside Artifacts (artifacts can call Claude)Artifacts become shareable mini-apps — generated UI with model calls.
  10. 2025-06-25LiveLoveApp: Hashbrown launched: browser-run agents + generative UI for Angular and ReactOSS + consulting model comparable to IfH.
  11. 2025-07-17Lovable: Series A $200M at $1.8B (Accel)App-generator boom; later $6.6B (2025-12) and $13.3B (2026-08).
  12. 2025-07-21Replit: Replit agent deletes SaaStr production database during a code freezeDestructive agent action without consent — the archetypal RUI scenario.
  13. 2025-07-31Vercel: AI SDK 5 (typed tool UI parts; generative UI via tool results on the client)Shift from RSC streamUI to client-side typed tool UI.
  14. 2025-07-31Figma: Figma IPO (NYSE: FIG)Public design-tool incumbent monetising AI (Make, agent, MCP).
  15. 2025-08-05Shopify: Storefront MCP-UI: interactive product, cart and checkout components over MCPFirst major commerce adopter of MCP-UI.
  16. 2025-08-11Vercel: v0.dev renamed v0.app (agentic full-stack builder)v0 moves from component generator to vibe-coding agent.
  17. 2025-08-13Microsoft + Google (W3C WebML CG): WebMCP explainer published (navigator.modelContext: websites expose tools to in-browser agents)Agent-facing interfaces on the open web; human-in-the-loop by design.
  18. 2025-08-20Guardio / Brave: 'Scamlexity': Comet agent autofills card details on a fake shop built with Lovable; Brave publishes Comet prompt-injection researchAgents act on malicious generated UI without meaningful consent.
  19. 2025-09-08MCP: Official MCP Registry launchedDiscovery layer for MCP servers (and later MCP Apps).
  20. 2025-09-10CopilotKit: AG-UI Dojo launched (learning/demo harness for AG-UI integrations)Demo harness, not a conformance or safety test suite.
  21. 2025-09-29Anthropic: 'Imagine with Claude' research preview: software generated on the fly (with Sonnet 4.5)Anthropic's fully-generative-UI experiment.
  22. 2025-09-30Vercel: Series F ($300M at $9.3B valuation)Capital behind v0, AI SDK, json-render.
  23. 2025-10-06OpenAI: DevDay 2025: Apps in ChatGPT + Apps SDK (built on MCP), AgentKit (Agent Builder, ChatKit, Evals)Largest distribution channel for in-chat UI; launch partners incl. Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, Zillow.
  24. 2025-10-21OpenAI: ChatGPT Atlas browser launched with agent modeAgents acting in real browsers; triggers prompt-injection research wave.
  25. 2025-11-11Microsoft: Microsoft Agent Framework becomes AG-UI compatibleHyperscaler adoption of AG-UI.
  26. 2025-11-18Google: Gemini 3 launches generative UI: 'dynamic view' and 'visual layout' in Gemini app, generative UI in Search AI Mode; Google Research paper 'Generative UI: LLMs are Effective UI Generators'First mass-market fully generated (unconstrained HTML/JS) UI; human raters preferred it to text/markdown.
  27. 2025-11-21MCP / Anthropic / OpenAI / MCP-UI: MCP Apps proposed (SEP-1865) — standard for interactive UI from MCP serversAnthropic + OpenAI converge on one in-chat UI standard.
  28. 2025-12-09Linux Foundation: Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) formed; MCP donatedNeutral governance for MCP (and later Agent Skills, Oct 2026).
  29. 2025-12-09Menlo Ventures: State of GenAI in the Enterprise: $37B spend in 2025; only 16% of deployments are true agentsDemand context for agent interfaces.
  30. 2025-12-15Google: A2UI (Agent-to-User Interface) publicly launched: declarative JSON UI rendered from a trusted component catalogGoogle's 'safe-by-construction' declarative generative UI spec.
  31. 2025-12-17OpenAI: ChatGPT app directory opens and app submissions begin; connectors renamed 'apps'Distribution + review gate for in-chat UI.
  32. 2025-12-18Oracle: Oracle adopts AG-UI for Agent SpecEnterprise vendor adoption of AG-UI.
  33. 2025-12-22Vercel: AI SDK 6Agent abstractions; tool approval flows.
  34. 2025-12-22OpenAI: OpenAI says AI browsers may always be vulnerable to prompt injection; Atlas requires confirmation before payments/messagesConfirmation-before-consequence becomes platform policy.
2026
  1. 2026-01-11Google + retailers: Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) incl. embedded business checkout UICommerce UI inside agents gets a cross-industry protocol.
  2. 2026-01-14Vercel Labs: json-render open-sourced: catalog-constrained ('guardrailed') generative UI19.4k stars and ~9.6M monthly npm downloads by Nov 2026 — fastest-growing gen-UI library.
  3. 2026-01-16ClickHouse: ClickHouse acquires LangfuseLLM observability consolidates.
  4. 2026-01-26MCP / Anthropic / OpenAI / Microsoft / Block: MCP Apps becomes first official MCP extension; Claude launches interactive apps (Asana, Figma, Slack, Canva…); VS Code Insiders and Goose ship support; ChatGPT follows that weekOne portable in-chat UI standard across major hosts.
  5. 2026-02-03Vercel: 'The new v0' launchedv0 repositioned for production/internal apps.
  6. 2026-02-10Google Chrome: WebMCP early preview program opensAgent-facing tool layer for websites enters Chrome.
  7. 2026-02-10Tambo: Tambo 1.0 released (generative UI SDK for React)Peak of the standalone gen-UI SDK wave.
  8. 2026-02-12Manufact (mcp-use): $6.3M seed led by Peak XV for MCP SDK/cloud + MCP Apps inspectorInvestors fund MCP Apps developer tooling.
  9. 2026-02-27Lovable: Showcased Lovable app lets unauthenticated users delete accounts and change grades (18,697 records)Generated apps' destructive actions lack authorization.
  10. 2026-03-09Microsoft: MCP Apps and OpenAI Apps SDK UIs render in Microsoft 365 Copilot chat (Outlook, Power Apps, Adobe Express, Coursera, Figma, monday.com)Enterprise distribution of in-chat UI; admin-governed.
  11. 2026-03-11Replit: Series D $400M at $9B (Georgian)App-generator scale.
  12. 2026-03-16MCP: 'Tool Annotations as Risk Vocabulary' — destructiveHint/readOnlyHint are untrusted hints; no major client surfaces them in approval promptsOfficial admission that consent/risk signalling is unsolved — core RUI thesis.
  13. 2026-03-24AWS: Bedrock AgentCore adds dedicated AG-UI endpointAWS adoption of AG-UI.
  14. 2026-04-15Salesforce: TDX 2026: Agentforce Experience Layer renders interactive components to Slack, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Teams and MCP Apps hosts; Headless 360Enterprise SaaS decouples UI from agents.
  15. 2026-04-17Anthropic: Claude Design (Anthropic Labs) research preview: designs, prototypes, design systems from codebase, handoff to Claude CodeModel lab enters design tooling; design-system-aware generation.
  16. 2026-04-17Google: A2UI v0.9: React renderer, web-core, Agent SDK, bidirectional data, runs over MCP/AG-UI/A2ADeclarative gen-UI spec matures; CopilotKit, Oracle, AG2, Vercel support.
  17. 2026-04-22Lovable: Lovable discloses April 2026 incident: public projects' chat history and source exposed 2026-02-03 → 04-20Platform-level exposure at the largest app generator.
  18. 2026-05-05CopilotKit: $27M Series A (Glilot, NFX, SignalFire); claims majority of Fortune 500, 4M+ weekly downloadsLargest dedicated generative-UI infrastructure round.
  19. 2026-05-19Google: I/O 2026: generative UI in Search to be free for everyone; Gemini 3.5 Flash + Antigravity build dynamic layouts, trackers, dashboards [secondary sources]Generative UI at Search scale.
  20. 2026-05-22Thesys: Thesys discloses a 'May 2026 Security Incident' (details not public)Gen-UI vendors are now security targets.
  21. 2026-06-19GitHub Advisory DB: GHSA-x975-rgx4-5fh4: XSS in an appium-mcp MCP-UI resource can call tools via postMessage without confirmation (CVSS 8.2)Generated/embedded UI as an attack path to unconsented tool calls.
  22. 2026-06-25Vercel: AI SDK 7: MCPAppRenderer (MCP Apps in sandboxed iframes), tool approvals, harness agents; 16M+ weekly downloadsDefault JS AI toolkit renders MCP Apps natively.
  23. 2026-06-29AI Engineer: AI Engineer World's Fair 2026 (SF, to 07-02) runs a Design Engineering track incl. MCP Apps and 'Generative UI… in Python?' talksGenerative UI reaches the main AI-engineering stage; only 6 talks tagged 'Generative UI' site-wide.
  24. 2026-07-09OpenAI: ChatGPT apps directory merged with Codex plugins into 'Plugins' (skills + MCP server + MCP App UI)'Apps' become 'plugins'; UI is one part of a bundle.
  25. 2026-07-15Lovable: Lovable apps work inside ChatGPT and Claude via Lovable-hosted MCP serverVibe-coded apps flow into chat hosts as MCP Apps.
  26. 2026-07-28MCP: MCP specification 2026-07-28 releasedExtensions framework, enterprise auth; MCP Apps continues as extension.
  27. 2026-08Google: Generative UI reaches Search AI Mode globally in English [secondary]Largest-scale generative UI deployment.
  28. 2026-08-12Lovable: Series C $400M at $13.3B (Menlo, EQT; Tencent)Largest app-generator valuation.
  29. 2026-08-31Vercel: design.md: public design guidance + stylesheet + eval loop so agents produce on-brand pages (57% fewer known failures)Design-system conformance for agent output becomes a practice.
  30. 2026-09-08Thesys: OUI-1 open-weight generative UI model + Generative UI Benchmark (structural validity only)First UI-specific model and benchmark; measures validity, not usability or safety.
  31. 2026-09-08MCP: ext-apps 2.0 SDK (MCP Apps) released~27M monthly npm downloads by Nov 2026.
  32. 2026-09-14MCPJam: MCPJam platform launch: client matrix, protocol conformance & OAuth/security CI checks for MCP AppsClosest direct adjacent to RUI.
  33. 2026-09-29OpenAI: DevDay 2026: plugin extensions (sidebar panels, viewers), ChatGPT Space & Pages, Dots persistent agents, Agents API with computer useUI surfaces for agents expand beyond inline widgets.
  34. 2026-09-30CopilotKit: AG-UI 1.0 stable spec (JSON Schema, interrupts, subagents, multimodal)Stable event log format — replayable; no conformance suite.
  35. 2026-10-01Tambo: Tambo Cloud shut down ('models caught up'; insufficient adoption despite ~11k stars)First notable gen-UI SDK casualty — commoditisation signal.
  36. 2026-10-07OpenAI: ChatGPT 'Intelligent UI' with GPT-6: charts, calculators, maps, interactive components chosen by the model, all tiersGenerative UI becomes the default ChatGPT answer format.
  37. 2026-10-08Arena (LMArena): $200M Series B at $3.1B; 'Alignment Index' incl. unauthorized-action signal [method unverified]Evaluation-as-brand is fundable; WebDev Arena is the de facto UI-quality leaderboard.
  38. 2026-10-09CopilotKit: Open Intelligent UI: open-source alternative to ChatGPT Intelligent UI (iframe sandbox, CDN allow-list)Open ecosystem responds within days.
  39. 2026-10-15Vercel: Ship 2026 recap: SAP rebuilds design system so people and agents compose UI (v0 + json-render); AKQA × Starbucks generative store ChatGPT appNamed enterprise generative-UI deployments.
  40. 2026-10-21Google: Generative UI expanding from AI Mode into AI Overviews [secondary]Billions of daily impressions potentially.
  41. 2026-10-28Google: Connected Apps Platform preview: MCP servers / MCP Apps inside Gemini app and Search AI Mode (50+ apps incl. Adobe, Peloton)Google becomes the third major MCP Apps host; review gate.
  42. 2026-11-03Google / CopilotKit: Google Antigravity becomes AG-UI compatibleAG-UI reaches Google's agent IDE.
  43. 2026-11-04Figma: Q3 2026: 65% of paid customers >$10k ARR use the Figma agent weekly; Figma MCP server fastest-growing productAgentic design tools monetise; design systems exposed to agents via MCP.
  44. 2026-11-06Meta: Muse 'Spaces': on-demand app-like environments generated inside Meta's assistant [secondary]Meta joins consumer generative UI.