Convex Agents

Build persistent, stateful AI agents with Convex including thread management, tool integration, streaming responses, RAG patterns, and workflow orchestration.

Documentation Sources

Before implementing, do not assume; fetch the latest documentation:

• Primary: https://docs.convex.dev/ai
• Convex Agent Component: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@convex-dev/agent
• For broader context: https://docs.convex.dev/llms.txt

Instructions

Why Convex for AI Agents

• Persistent State - Conversation history survives restarts
• Real-time Updates - Stream responses to clients automatically
• Tool Execution - Run Convex functions as agent tools
• Durable Workflows - Long-running agent tasks with reliability
• Built-in RAG - Vector search for knowledge retrieval

Setting Up Convex Agent

npm install @convex-dev/agent ai openai

// convex/agent.ts
import { Agent } from "@convex-dev/agent";
import { components } from "./_generated/api";
import { OpenAI } from "openai";

const openai = new OpenAI();

export const agent = new Agent(components.agent, {
  chat: openai.chat,
  textEmbedding: openai.embeddings,
});

Thread Management

// convex/threads.ts
import { mutation, query } from "./_generated/server";
import { v } from "convex/values";
import { agent } from "./agent";

// Create a new conversation thread
export const createThread = mutation({
  args: {
    userId: v.id("users"),
    title: v.optional(v.string()),
  },
  returns: v.id("threads"),
  handler: async (ctx, args) => {
    const threadId = await agent.createThread(ctx, {
      userId: args.userId,
      metadata: {
        title: args.title ?? "New Conversation",
        createdAt: Date.now(),
      },
    });
    return threadId;
  },
});

// List user's threads
export const listThreads = query({
  args: { userId: v.id("users") },
  returns: v.array(v.object({
    _id: v.id("threads"),
    title: v.string(),
    lastMessageAt: v.optional(v.number()),
  })),
  handler: async (ctx, args) => {
    return await agent.listThreads(ctx, {
      userId: args.userId,
    });
  },
});

// Get thread messages
export const getMessages = query({
  args: { threadId: v.id("threads") },
  returns: v.array(v.object({
    role: v.string(),
    content: v.string(),
    createdAt: v.number(),
  })),
  handler: async (ctx, args) => {
    return await agent.getMessages(ctx, {
      threadId: args.threadId,
    });
  },
});

Sending Messages and Streaming Responses

// convex/chat.ts
import { action } from "./_generated/server";
import { v } from "convex/values";
import { agent } from "./agent";
import { internal } from "./_generated/api";

export const sendMessage = action({
  args: {
    threadId: v.id("threads"),
    message: v.string(),
  },
  returns: v.null(),
  handler: async (ctx, args) => {
    // Add user message to thread
    await ctx.runMutation(internal.chat.addUserMessage, {
      threadId: args.threadId,
      content: args.message,
    });

    // Generate AI response with streaming
    const response = await agent.chat(ctx, {
      threadId: args.threadId,
      messages: [{ role: "user", content: args.message }],
      stream: true,
      onToken: async (token) => {
        // Stream tokens to client via mutation
        await ctx.runMutation(internal.chat.appendToken, {
          threadId: args.threadId,
          token,
        });
      },
    });

    // Save complete response
    await ctx.runMutation(internal.chat.saveResponse,