Agent Data Handling

We provide a few different ways to handle data formats in your agents to make it easier to work with different data types. Of course, your agent can always perform its own data handling by use the raw data and the content type property. However, most common data types are supported out of the box.

How it works

Data that is sent to your agent is transferred as raw binary data and the content type is provided to the agent. The agent can then use the content type to determine how to handle the data. The AgentRequest object provides a data property that contains the Data object. The Data object provides a contentType property that contains the content type of the data. The Data object also provides a number of helper methods to help you handle the data.

When you send data to your agent using the HTTP protocol, for example, the Content-Type HTTP header is used to determine the content type of the data. If you are sending binary type data, make sure that you use raw binary data and set the Content-Type HTTP header to the appropriate value. When using Agent-to-Agent communication, the Agentuity SDK will automatically determine the content type of the data based on the data that is sent. You can override the content type by passing the content type.

Often, your agent will need to handle different formats dynamically. In this case, you can use the contentType property to determine the format of the data.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
 const contentType = req.data.contentType;
 switch (contentType) {
	case 'text/plain':
		const text = await req.data.text();
		// do something with the text
		break;
	case 'application/json':
		const json = await req.data.json();
		// do something with the json
		break;
	default:
		// do something with the data
		break;
 }
}

Request Data Formats

The following request data formats are supported out of the box:

Text

You use use the text method on the Data object to get the raw text data.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
 const text = await req.data.text();
}

You must await the text method to get the raw text data since the data could be a stream. In the case the data is streamed to the agent, the agent will wait for the data to be fully streamed before returning the text data.

In the case the data is another content type that isn't text, the text method will return the raw data as a string. For example, if the content type is application/json, the text method will return the raw JSON data as a string.

JSON

You can use the json method on the Data object to get the raw JSON data.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
 const json = await req.data.json();
}

You must await the json method to get the raw JSON data since the data could be a stream. In the case the data is streamed to the agent, the agent will wait for the data to be fully streamed before returning the JSON data.

In the case the data is another content type that isn't JSON, the json method will attempt to parse the data as JSON. If the data is not valid JSON, the json method will throw an error.

Object

You can use the object method on the Data object to get the JSON data as an object cast to the type you provide. This currently only works for JSON data and the JavaScript SDK.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
 const obj = await req.data.object<{ name: string }>();
}

Binary

If you want to get the raw binary data, you can use the binary method on the Data object.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
 const binary = await req.data.binary();
}

You must await the binary method to get the raw binary data since the data could be a stream. In the case the data is streamed to the agent, the agent will wait for the data to be fully streamed before returning the binary data.

For JavaScript, the binary method returns a Uint8Array object. For Python, the binary method returns a bytes object.

Stream

If you want to get the raw binary data as a stream, you can use the stream method on the Data object.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
 const stream = await req.data.stream();
 for await (const chunk of stream) {
	console.log(chunk);
 }
}

You must await the stream method to get a stream of the raw binary data. The stream will be a ReadableStream object for JavaScript and a IO[bytes] object for Python.

See the Streaming guide for more information on how Agent Streaming works.

Base64

If you want to get the raw binary data as a base64 encoded string, you can use the base64 method on the Data object.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
const base64 = await req.data.base64();
}

You must await the base64 method to get the base64 encoded string.

Email

If you want to get the raw binary data as an email object, you can use the email method on the Data object. This assumes that the request payload was an RFC822 encoded email.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
 req: AgentRequest,
 resp: AgentResponse,
 ctx: AgentContext
) {
const email = await req.data.email();
ctx.logger.info('email subject: %s', email.subject);
}

You must await the email method to get the email object. The email object will be a Email object. The Email object has the following properties:

• date: The date of the email.
• messageId: The message ID of the email.
• fromEmail: The sender of the email.
• fromName: The sender name (if provided).
• subject: The subject of the email.
• attachments: The attachments of the email as an array of Attachment objects.
• headers: The headers of the email as an array of Header objects.
• text: The text body of the email.
• html: The HTML body of the email.

The Attachment object has the following properties:

• filename: The filename of the attachment.
• contentDisposition: The content disposition of the attachment which is either inline or attachment. Defaults to attachment.
• data: The DataType of the attachment.

Response Data Formats

The following response data formats are supported out of the box. Use these methods on the AgentResponse object to send data in the desired format from your agent.

Text

You can use the text method to send a plain text response.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext
) {
 return resp.text('Hello, world!');
}

JSON

You can use the json method to send a JSON response.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext
) {
 return resp.json({ message: 'Success', data: { id: 123, name: 'Example' } });
}

Binary

You can use the binary method to send raw binary data.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext
) {
 const binaryData = new Uint8Array([1, 2, 3, 4]).buffer;
 return resp.binary(binaryData);
}

Media Types (Images, Audio, Video, PDF, etc.)

The SDK provides helpers for common media types. Use the corresponding method for the type you want to return (e.g., png, jpeg, pdf, mp3, etc.).

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext
) {
 // imageData is an ArrayBuffer containing PNG data
 return resp.png(imageData);
}

Markdown

You can use the markdown method to return markdown content.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext
) {
 return resp.markdown('# Hello, world!\nThis is a markdown response.');
}

HTML

You can use the html method to return HTML content.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext
) {
 return resp.html('<h1>Hello, world!</h1><p>This is an HTML response.</p>');
}

Streaming

For large or real-time responses, you can stream data using the stream method. The source can be an async iterator, a stream, or another agent's stream.

import type { AgentRequest, AgentResponse, AgentContext } from "@agentuity/sdk";
import { streamText } from "ai";
import { openai } from "@ai-sdk/openai";
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext,
) {
 const { textStream } = streamText({
    model: openai("gpt-4o"),
    prompt: "Invent a new holiday and describe its traditions.",
 });
 return resp.stream(textStream);
}

Custom Response

For advanced use cases, you can return a native Response object from your agent.

import type { AgentContext, AgentRequest, AgentResponse } from '@agentuity/sdk';
 
export default async function Agent(
req: AgentRequest,
resp: AgentResponse,
ctx: AgentContext
) {
 return new Response('Hi', { status: 202 });
}

For JavaScript, the Response object follows the Fetch API interface. For Python, the Response object follows the aiohttp.ClientResponse interface.