Install and setup

Install and Setup

Contract

By the end of this skill the consumer's app has:

• agentickit installed alongside its required peers (ai, @ai-sdk/react, zod) plus exactly one provider adapter.
• An API route exporting createPilotHandler at a path the client can reach.
• A <Pilot> provider wrapping the component tree and a <PilotSidebar> rendered as a sibling.
• A working round-trip: open the sidebar, send "hello", see a streamed response.

Iron Law: one provider adapter, one env var

Every install MUST set exactly one of the supported provider env vars AND install the matching @ai-sdk/* peer package. Auto-detection walks the list in order (see packages/agentickit/src/server/handler.ts AUTO_DETECT_ORDER) and throws noProviderConfiguredError() if none are present. Shipping without a provider produces a clear handler-creation-time error, but shipping with a key and the wrong adapter produces a MODULE_NOT_FOUND on first request. Verify both before you claim the install is done.

Phases

Phase 1: install runtime deps

npm install @hec-ovi/agentickit

That single line is sufficient for the package's runtime graph — ai, @ai-sdk/react, zod, and nanoid are regular dependencies and get installed transitively. Do NOT instruct the consumer to install those four by name; it's redundant noise that makes the install look heavier than it is.

Pick one provider. Free-tier-friendly is OpenRouter; zero-latency is Groq; widest model selection is the Vercel AI Gateway:

# OpenRouter: free tier, no credit card
npm install @openrouter/ai-sdk-provider
# or Groq
npm install @ai-sdk/groq
# or any of: @ai-sdk/openai @ai-sdk/anthropic @ai-sdk/google @ai-sdk/mistral

If the consumer wants usePilotForm:

npm install react-hook-form

Phase 2: set the env var

In .env.local (or the consumer's equivalent):

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-...

Auto-detect priority (first hit wins): GROQ_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY, MISTRAL_API_KEY, AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY.

Cross-reference with skills/choose-provider/SKILL.md if the consumer is unsure which to pick.

Phase 3: create the server route

Next.js App Router, at app/api/pilot/route.ts:

import { createPilotHandler } from "@hec-ovi/agentickit/server";

// Omit `model` to auto-detect a provider from env.
// Pass `model: "openrouter/qwen/qwen3-coder:free"` etc. to be explicit.
export const POST = createPilotHandler({});

For Bun / Hono / Cloudflare Workers: createPilotHandler({}) returns a (request: Request) => Promise<Response>. Hand it to whichever routing primitive the framework uses.

Phase 4: wrap the client tree

// app/layout.tsx (client boundary) or any root client component
"use client";
import { Pilot, PilotSidebar } from "@hec-ovi/agentickit";

export default function Shell({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <Pilot apiUrl="/api/pilot">
      {children}
      <PilotSidebar />
    </Pilot>
  );
}

apiUrl defaults to /api/pilot so it's usually redundant, but leave it for clarity. Do not pass model on <Pilot> unless you want a client-side override of the handler's default.

Phase 5: smoke test

1. npm run dev.
2. Open the app in a browser. The sidebar's toggle button is a pill on the right edge labeled "Copilot".
3. Click it. Type "hello".
4. Expect a streamed response within one second.

Failure modes and fixes:

Symptom	Cause	Fix
500 on first message, MODULE_NOT_FOUND	Env var set but adapter not installed	npm install @ai-sdk/<provider>
500 with "no model configured"	No env var set	Set one of the supported keys
400 unsupported_provider	Model string prefix typo (e.g. opnai/gpt-4o)	Fix the prefix; see SUPPORTED_PROVIDER_PREFIXES in server/handler.ts
CORS error	Calling the route cross-origin without the handler's CORS headers being preserved	Don't wrap the response; let createPilotHandler own the Response

Anti-Patterns

• Installing multiple provider adapters "just in case". The auto-detect order is deterministic; extra keys just confuse the next developer.
• Exposing provider API keys in the browser bundle. OPENAI_API_KEY etc. are read server-side from process.env; never import them into client code.
• Passing model on both <Pilot> AND createPilotHandler({ model }). The client value wins; if the consumer intended the server choice they'll be confused.
• Putting <PilotSidebar /> outside <Pilot>. The sidebar reads from PilotChatContext; without the provider it renders but won't chat.

Output Format

After install, report:

• The env var you configured (name only, never the value).
• The adapter package you installed.
• The route path you created.
• One sentence confirming the smoke test passed, or the exact error if it didn't.

Tools Used

• Run npm install to add deps.
• Edit .env.local to set the provider key.
• Edit the app's layout / route files to wire the provider + handler.