Tanstack AI Core Custom Backend Integration

Custom Backend Integration

This skill builds on ai-core and ai-core/chat-experience. Read them first.

Setup

Connect useChat to a custom SSE backend with auth headers:

import { useChat, fetchServerSentEvents } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import { token } from './auth'

function Chat() {
  const { messages, sendMessage, isLoading } = useChat({
    connection: fetchServerSentEvents('https://my-api.com/chat', {
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
      },
    }),
  })

  return (
    <div>
      {messages.map((msg) => (
        <div key={msg.id}>
          <strong>{msg.role}:</strong>
          {msg.parts.map((part, i) => {
            if (part.type === 'text') {
              return <p key={i}>{part.content}</p>
            }
            return null
          })}
        </div>
      ))}
      <button => sendMessage('Hello')}>Send</button>
    </div>
  )
}

Both fetchServerSentEvents and fetchHttpStream accept a static URL string or a function returning a string (evaluated per request), and a static options object or a sync/async function returning options (also evaluated per request). This allows dynamic auth tokens and URLs without re-creating the adapter.

Core Patterns

1. Custom SSE Backend with fetchServerSentEvents

Use when your backend speaks SSE (text/event-stream) with data: {json}\n\n framing. This is the recommended default.

Static options:

import { useChat, fetchServerSentEvents } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import { token, tenantId } from './auth'

const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
  connection: fetchServerSentEvents('https://my-api.com/chat', {
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
      'X-Tenant-Id': tenantId,
    },
    credentials: 'include',
  }),
})

Dynamic URL and options (evaluated per request):

import { useChat, fetchServerSentEvents } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import { sessionId, getAccessToken } from './auth'

const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
  connection: fetchServerSentEvents(
    () => `https://my-api.com/chat?session=${sessionId}`,
    async () => ({
      headers: {
        Authorization: `Bearer ${await getAccessToken()}`,
      },
      body: {
        provider: 'openai',
        model: 'gpt-5.5',
      },
    }),
  ),
})

The body field in options is merged into the POST request body alongside messages and data, so the server receives { messages, data, provider, model }.

Custom fetch client (for proxies, interceptors, retries):

import { useChat, fetchServerSentEvents } from '@tanstack/ai-react'

// Same signature as globalThis.fetch — wrap it however you need.
const myCustomFetch: typeof fetch = (input, init) =>
  fetch(input, { ...init, credentials: 'include' })

const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
  connection: fetchServerSentEvents('/api/chat', {
    fetchClient: myCustomFetch,
  }),
})

2. Custom NDJSON Backend with fetchHttpStream

Use when your backend sends newline-delimited JSON (application/x-ndjson) instead of SSE. Each line is one JSON-encoded StreamChunk followed by \n.

import { useChat, fetchHttpStream } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import { token } from './auth'

const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
  connection: fetchHttpStream('https://my-api.com/chat', {
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
    },
  }),
})

fetchHttpStream accepts the same URL and options signatures as fetchServerSentEvents (static or dynamic, sync or async). The only difference is the parsing: no data: prefix stripping, no [DONE] sentinel -- just one JSON object per line.

Dynamic options work identically:

import { useChat, fetchHttpStream } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import { region, refreshToken } from './auth'

const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
  connection: fetchHttpStream(
    () => `/api/chat?region=${region}`,
    async () => ({
      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${await refreshToken()}` },
    }),
  ),
})

3. Fully Custom Connection Adapter

For protocols that don't fit SSE or NDJSON (WebSockets, gRPC-web, custom binary, server functions), implement the ConnectionAdapter interface directly.

There are two mutually exclusive modes:

ConnectConnectionAdapter (pull-based / async iterable):

Use when the client initiates a request and consumes the response as a stream. This is the simpler model and covers most HTTP-based protocols.

import { useChat } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import type { ConnectConnectionAdapter } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import type { StreamChunk } from '@tanstack/ai'

const websocketAdapter: ConnectConnectionAdapter = {
  async *connect(messages, data, abortSignal) {
    const ws = new WebSocket('wss://my-api.com/chat')

    // Wait for connection
    await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
      ws.onopen = () => resolve()
      ws.onerror = (e) => reject(e)
    })

    // Send messages
    ws.send(JSON.stringify({ messages, ...data }))

    // Create an async queue to bridge WebSocket events to an async iterable
    const queue: Array<StreamChunk> = []
    let resolve: (() => void) | null = null
    let done = false

    ws.onmessage = (event) => {
      const chunk: StreamChunk = JSON.parse(event.data)
      queue.push(chunk)
      resolve?.()
    }

    ws.onclose = () => {
      done = true
      resolve?.()
    }

    ws.onerror = () => {
      done = true
      resolve?.()
    }

    abortSignal?.addEventListener('abort', () => {
      ws.close()
    })

    // Yield chunks as they arrive
    while (!done || queue.length > 0) {
      if (queue.length > 0) {
        yield queue.shift()!
      } else {
        await new Promise<void>((r) => {
          resolve = r
        })
      }
    }
  },
}

function Chat() {
  const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
    connection: websocketAdapter,
  })

  // ... render messages
}

SubscribeConnectionAdapter (push-based / separate subscribe + send):

Use for push-based protocols where the server can send data at any time (persistent WebSocket connections, MQTT, server push). The subscribe method returns an AsyncIterable<StreamChunk> that stays open, and send dispatches messages through it.

import { useChat } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import type { SubscribeConnectionAdapter } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import type { StreamChunk } from '@tanstack/ai'

// One socket for the lifetime of the client; every run's chunks arrive on it.
const ws = new WebSocket('wss://my-api.com/chat')
const ready = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
  ws.addEventListener('open', () => resolve(), { once: true })
})

const pushAdapter: SubscribeConnectionAdapter = {
  async *subscribe(abortSignal) {
    // Long-lived async iterable: yields chunks whenever the server pushes
    // them, until the socket closes or the signal aborts
    const queue: Array<StreamChunk> = []
    let wake: (() => void) | null = null
    let closed = false

    ws.addEventListener('message', (event) => {
      const chunk: StreamChunk = JSON.parse(event.data)
      queue.push(chunk)
      wake?.()
    })
    ws.addEventListener('close', () => {
      closed = true
      wake?.()
    })
    abortSignal?.addEventListener('abort', () => ws.close())

    while (!closed || queue.length > 0) {
      const next = queue.shift()
      if (next !== undefined) {
        yield next
        continue
      }
      await new Promise<void>((r) => {
        wake = r
      })
    }
  },

  async send(messages, data) {
    // Dispatch messages; chunks arrive through subscribe()
    await ready
    ws.send(JSON.stringify({ messages, ...data }))
  },
}

function Chat() {
  const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
    connection: pushAdapter,
  })

  // ... render messages
}

The stream() helper function (re-exported from @tanstack/ai-react) provides a shorthand for creating a ConnectConnectionAdapter from an async generator:

import { useChat, stream } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import type { StreamChunk } from '@tanstack/ai'

const directAdapter = stream(async function* (messages, data) {
  const response = await fetch('https://my-api.com/chat', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: JSON.stringify({ messages, ...data }),
  })

  const reader = response.body!.getReader()
  const decoder = new TextDecoder()
  let buffer = ''

  while (true) {
    const { done, value } = await reader.read()
    if (done) break

    buffer += decoder.decode(value, { stream: true })
    const lines = buffer.split('\n')
    buffer = lines.pop() || ''

    for (const line of lines) {
      if (line.trim()) {
        const chunk: StreamChunk = JSON.parse(line)
        yield chunk
      }
    }
  }
})

const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
  connection: directAdapter,
})

Common Mistakes

a. HIGH: Providing both connect and subscribe+send in connection adapter

The ConnectionAdapter interface has two mutually exclusive modes. Providing both throws at runtime.

import type {
  ConnectConnectionAdapter,
  ConnectionAdapter,
  SubscribeConnectionAdapter,
} from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import { channel } from './channel'

// WRONG -- type-checks (ConnectionAdapter is a union) but throws at runtime:
// "Connection adapter must provide either connect or both subscribe and
// send, not both modes"
const adapter: ConnectionAdapter = {
  async *connect(messages) {
    /* ... */
  },
  subscribe(signal) {
    return channel.chunks(signal)
  },
  async send(messages) {
    await channel.send(messages)
  },
}

// CORRECT -- pick one mode
// Option A: ConnectConnectionAdapter (pull-based)
const pullAdapter: ConnectConnectionAdapter = {
  async *connect(messages, data, abortSignal) {
    // ... yield StreamChunks
  },
}

// Option B: SubscribeConnectionAdapter (push-based)
const pushAdapter: SubscribeConnectionAdapter = {
  subscribe(abortSignal) {
    return channel.chunks(abortSignal)
  },
  async send(messages, data, abortSignal) {
    await channel.send({ messages, ...data }, abortSignal)
  },
}

Source: ai-client/src/connection-adapters.ts line 116

b. MEDIUM: SSE browser connection limits

Browsers limit SSE connections to 6-8 per domain (the HTTP/1.1 connection limit). Multiple chat sessions on the same page, or multiple tabs to the same origin, can exhaust this limit. New connections queue indefinitely until an existing one closes.

Mitigations:

• Use HTTP/2 (multiplexes streams over a single TCP connection; no per-domain limit)
• Use fetchHttpStream instead of fetchServerSentEvents (each request is a standard POST, not a long-lived EventSource)
• Close idle connections when not actively streaming
• Use a single persistent WebSocket via SubscribeConnectionAdapter instead of per-request SSE connections

Source: docs/chat/connection-adapters.md

c. MEDIUM: HTTP stream without implementing reconnection

SSE has built-in browser auto-reconnection via the EventSource API. HTTP stream (NDJSON via fetchHttpStream) does not -- if the connection drops mid-stream, the partial response is silently lost with no automatic retry.

If your application needs resilience to transient network errors with HTTP streaming, implement retry logic in your connection adapter:

import { useChat } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import type { ConnectConnectionAdapter } from '@tanstack/ai-react'
import type { StreamChunk } from '@tanstack/ai'

const resilientAdapter: ConnectConnectionAdapter = {
  async *connect(messages, data, abortSignal) {
    const maxRetries = 3
    let attempt = 0

    while (attempt < maxRetries) {
      try {
        const response = await fetch('https://my-api.com/chat', {
          method: 'POST',
          headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
          body: JSON.stringify({ messages, ...data }),
          signal: abortSignal,
        })

        if (!response.ok) {
          throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}`)
        }

        const reader = response.body!.getReader()
        const decoder = new TextDecoder()
        let buffer = ''

        while (true) {
          const { done, value } = await reader.read()
          if (done) break

          buffer += decoder.decode(value, { stream: true })
          const lines = buffer.split('\n')
          buffer = lines.pop() || ''

          for (const line of lines) {
            if (line.trim()) {
              const chunk: StreamChunk = JSON.parse(line)
              yield chunk
            }
          }
        }

        return // Stream completed successfully
      } catch (err) {
        if (abortSignal?.aborted) throw err
        attempt++
        if (attempt >= maxRetries) throw err
        // Exponential backoff
        await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 1000 * 2 ** attempt))
      }
    }
  },
}

const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat({
  connection: resilientAdapter,
})

Note: fetchServerSentEvents in TanStack AI uses fetch() under the hood (not the browser EventSource API), so it also does not auto-reconnect. The SSE auto-reconnection advantage only applies when using the native EventSource API directly.

Source: docs/protocol/http-stream-protocol.md

Cross-References

• See also: ../tanstack-ai-core-ag-ui-protocol/SKILL.md -- Understanding the AG-UI protocol helps build compatible custom servers
• See also: ../tanstack-ai-core-chat-experience/SKILL.md -- Full chat setup patterns including server-side chat() and toServerSentEventsResponse()
• See also: ../tanstack-ai-core-middleware/SKILL.md -- Use middleware for analytics and lifecycle events on the server side