The gist

Agent-Native is an open-source framework by BuilderIO for creating applications where AI agents are core components, not just side-car chatbots. It provides a set of primitives for building agentic software, allowing developers to integrate agents that can act directly within an app's UI and data layer. This solves the challenge of creating deeply integrated, stateful AI experiences where humans and agents can collaborate in real-time on the same tasks and documents.

What it does

Define a single set of actions usable by the UI, agents, APIs, and CLI.
Provide a runtime for agents that includes tools, skills, memory, jobs, and observability.
Connect to any Drizzle-supported SQL database and Nitro-compatible host.
Clone and customize full-featured SaaS application templates for tasks like email, analytics, or slides.
Add visual planning and pull request recap skills to existing coding agents.
Generate interactive HTML prototypes from design prompts.

How it works

Developers use the Agent-Native CLI to initialize a project from pre-built templates or a headless setup. The framework provides libraries to define actions and integrate an agent runtime that works with the developer's own database and hosting provider. It operates as a backend-agnostic, open-source (MIT license) set of packages installed via npm, giving developers full ownership over their application code and infrastructure.

Best for

This framework is best for developers building applications where AI agents need to be first-class participants, capable of directly manipulating application state and UI alongside human users.

Watch out for

As a framework, Agent-Native requires coding and infrastructure setup; it is not a no-code platform or a pre-built SaaS application.