Building AI Features with the Vercel AI SDK

What this course is

A pragmatic guide to shipping AI features that don't feel like demos. We use the Vercel AI SDK (v6) because it's the best-in-class way to talk to models from a React app — streaming, tool calling, structured output all work the same regardless of provider.

What we build

• A writing assistant that streams suggestions as you type
• A support bot that can query your own database via tool calls
• A meeting summarizer that emits strict JSON (title, bullets, action items)

What you'll learn

• When streaming is the right default (and the one case it isn't)
• How to think about tools — they're not "AI magic," they're RPC calls with a docstring
• Structured output: get JSON you can trust, not JSON you have to retry
• The agent threshold: when a one-shot prompt stops being enough

Stack

• Next.js 16 App Router
• AI SDK v6 through the Vercel AI Gateway ("provider/model" strings)
• No direct provider SDKs — you'll learn to switch models with a one-line change