Self-managed agents

The frontend provider usually talks to your agents through the runtime: the frontend hits runtimeUrl, the runtime discovers agents from /info, and a proxy forwards every run server-side. But you can also hand the provider AG-UI agent instances directly and skip the runtime for those agents. There are separate production and local-development options, and choosing the right one matters.

Production: self-managed agents#

selfManagedAgents is the supported configuration option for connecting agents you manage yourself, for example an HttpAgent pointing at an AG-UI-compatible backend you own and have already secured:

import { ApplicationConfig } from "@angular/core";
import { HttpAgent } from "@ag-ui/client";
import { provideCopilotKit } from "@copilotkit/angular";

const supportAgent = new HttpAgent({
  url: "https://agents.example.com/support",
});

export const appConfig: ApplicationConfig = {
  providers: [
    provideCopilotKit({
      selfManagedAgents: { "support-agent": supportAgent },
    }),
  ],
};

Each key is the agentId that chat components and frontend agent APIs use to address that agent. Self-managed agents use your transport and your security model. Because the requests don't pass through the CopilotKit runtime, the runtime's server-side auth, middleware, and routing do not apply. Your agent endpoint must authenticate and authorize every request.

Development: local agents#

The Angular provider's agents option accepts the same shape for local, in-browser development:

import { HttpAgent } from "@ag-ui/client";
import { provideCopilotKit } from "@copilotkit/angular";

const localAgent = new HttpAgent({ url: "http://localhost:8000" });

provideCopilotKit({
  agents: { "my-agent": localAgent },
})

Use agents only for local development and prototyping. For production, switch to selfManagedAgents after securing the endpoint, or move the agent behind the runtime.

How they relate#

Both sources feed the same client-side agent registry. When both are supplied they are merged, and selfManagedAgents wins on a key collision:

// effective agents ≈ { ...agents, ...selfManagedAgents }

Supplying agents through either provider option also satisfies the frontend configuration check when at least one local agent is registered.

Related#

• Copilot Runtime: the recommended runtime-backed path and its trade-offs compared with direct connections.
• Connect AG-UI agents: the AbstractAgent / HttpAgent interface these options accept.
• Auth: securing agent traffic when you self-manage the connection.