.NET: Add DevUI package for .NET #1603

ReubenBond · 2025-10-21T17:19:33Z

Motivation and Context

This adds a DevUI NuGet package for .NET and implements just enough API surface to support it. Some of what is implemented here (eg Conversations API) should be replaced by first-class implementations rather than what I've implemented in the DevUI project. HOWEVER, for this PR, I am happy with this hacked together implementation for now to promote forward progress. ~~I also fixed just enough of the Responses API implementation to make it work, but that will be replaced by #1550.~~

To try it out, run the DevUI_Step01_BasicUsage sample.

Contribution Checklist

The code builds clean without any errors or warnings
The PR follows the Contribution Guidelines
All unit tests pass, and I have added new tests where possible
Is this a breaking change? If yes, add "[BREAKING]" prefix to the title of the PR.

markwallace-microsoft · 2025-10-21T17:22:40Z

Python Test Coverage Report •

File	Stmts	Miss	Cover	Missing
TOTAL	12293	2004	83%

report-only-changed-files is enabled. No files were changed during this commit :)

Python Unit Test Overview

Tests	Skipped	Failures	Errors	Time
1401	98 💤	0 ❌	0 🔥	28.104s ⏱️

...et/tests/Microsoft.Agents.AI.Workflows.UnitTests/Sample/07_GroupChat_Workflow_HostAsAgent.cs

.github/workflows/dotnet-build-and-test.yml

GreenShadeZhang · 2025-10-23T06:26:18Z

I think this is a good implementation. When will this PR be merged?

DeagleGross

Quite a big PR, so could miss something. I pulled the branch and played a bit with it. It works amazingly!

Suggesting to include the devui for our sample app as well (included changes here, take them if you like please #1668). I've also fancy-named the URLs in AgentHost to be able to reach devui easily from aspire dashboard

Question: when I launched devui via your sample + my sample I got git changes on index.js + python package-lock (see pic). Should we gitignore it / why not? I guess that's because I ran it first time (does not appear now when i build), just curious on what's the best practice here

dotnet/samples/GettingStarted/DevUI/README.md

ReubenBond · 2025-10-23T17:48:49Z

Regarding @DeagleGross's question:

Question: when I launched devui via your sample + my sample I got git changes on index.js + python package-lock (see pic). Should we gitignore it / why not? I guess that's because I ran it first time (does not appear now when i build), just curious on what's the best practice here

@victordibia, what is your opinion: should we add these to .gitignore or should we require a developer manually re-builds the devui assets when there is a change?

EDIT: I modified vite config to hopefully make the build deterministic. So far, it's worked for me. Let's see how it goes.

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:27:14Z

dotnet/samples/GettingStarted/DevUI/DevUI_Step01_BasicUsage/Program.cs

+        // Register sample workflows
+        var assistantBuilder = builder.AddAIAgent("workflow-assistant", "You are a helpful assistant in a workflow.");
+        var reviewerBuilder = builder.AddAIAgent("workflow-reviewer", "You are a reviewer. Review and critique the previous response.");
+        builder.AddSequentialWorkflow(


Are we duplicating patterns onto the builder?

I don't quite understand - these aren't new methods I'm adding, just a sample

I was not aware @DeagleGross added these in #1359. Question still stands, just not for this PR

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:28:33Z

dotnet/samples/GettingStarted/DevUI/README.md

+builder.AddAIAgent("my-agent", "You are a helpful assistant.");
+
+// Add DevUI services
+builder.AddDevUI();


With this showing up in public surface area, do we need a more formal name / agent-specific name than "DevUI"?

Yes, probably. Should that be in this PR?

Don't block on it

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:30:20Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.Hosting.OpenAI/Conversations/ConversationsHttpApi.cs

+namespace Microsoft.Agents.AI.Hosting.OpenAI.Conversations;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Minimal API endpoints for OpenAI Conversations API.
+/// </summary>
+public static class ConversationsHttpApi
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Maps an OpenAI Conversations API to the specified <see cref="IEndpointRouteBuilder"/>.
+    /// </summary>
+    public static IEndpointConventionBuilder MapConversations(this IEndpointRouteBuilder endpoints)


It's unexpected that this is in the DevUI package. Does it need to be exposed publicly or could it just be done implicitly as part of MapDevUI? And if it must be public, can it be moved to the same package as the other OpenAI stuff?

I think its specific to DevUI. We should not move it in this form to OpenAI package IMO. But we probably should hide it, I agree

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:34:50Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.Hosting.OpenAI/Conversations/ConversationsJsonContext.cs

+        JsonSerializerOptions options = new(ConversationsJsonContext.Default.Options);
+
+        // Chain with AIContent types from Microsoft.Extensions.AI
+        options.TypeInfoResolverChain.Add(AIJsonUtilities.DefaultOptions.TypeInfoResolver!);


Do we need any of the AIAgent-related types? If yes, this should probably chain with AgentAbstractionsJsonUtilities.DefaultOptions instead (and it in turn chains in AIJsonUtilities.DefaultOptions).

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:35:13Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/Conversations/ConversationsJsonContext.cs

+internal sealed partial class ConversationsJsonContext : JsonSerializerContext
+{
+}


Nit: you can just use a ; after JsonSerializerContext rather than empty braces

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:52:26Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.Hosting.OpenAI/Conversations/Models/OpenAIContentConverter.cs

+    {
+        writer.WriteStartObject();
+
+        // Convert TextContent to OpenAI format


There are routines in M.E.AI.OpenAI for converting M.E.AI.ChatMessages into Responses ResponseItems and Chat Completion ChatMessages. Not sure that'll help you, but wanted to call it out.

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:53:03Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/DevUIExtensions.cs

+    /// </summary>
+    public static IHostApplicationBuilder AddDevUI(this IHostApplicationBuilder builder)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(builder);


It's so refreshing reading code that only targets .NET Core and can use such APIs :)

We should do this everywhere :)

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:55:40Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/DevUIMiddleware.cs

+        {
+            var encoding = acceptEncoding[i];
+
+            if (encoding.Quality is not 0 &&


Why does this need to check for Quality != 0?

A value of 0 means not accepted

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T01:58:14Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/Entities/WorkflowSerializationExtensions.cs

+                            // Add condition name if this is a conditional edge
+                            if (directEdge.HasCondition)
+                            {
+                                edge["condition_name"] = "condition";


Is "condition" the right value here? I'd have expected it to be something more customized to the condition, like the condition itself, a description of it, etc.

This is just there to make the shape right for DevUI. I copied this from Victor's DevUI proof of concept. This should be the name of the condition (assuming we could fetch that, but it's not accessible in this part of the model) or something generic if we cannot get a good name for the condition. Python code uses or in that event.

stephentoub · 2025-10-23T02:00:38Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/EntitiesApiExtensions.cs

+            {
+                await foreach (var agent in agentCatalog.GetAgentsAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false))
+                {
+                    if (agent.GetType().Name == "WorkflowHostAgent")


This seems pretty fragile and that there's a decent chance the internal type will get renamed, no one will know to update this, and it'll just silently be skipped

It will break DevUI if/when it does. It's a hack for sure.

I recommend we add an API that allows the app to pass in agents that should be excluded from the devUI. In the prototype Luis had built up, he hid "internal" agents from the devui where a workflow wrapped around those agents, so that only the workflow agent would be shown and the others would not be. He did that by implementing a filter in his corresponding method for discovering the registered agents.

jeffhandley · 2025-10-24T22:47:46Z

dotnet/samples/GettingStarted/DevUI/DevUI_Step01_BasicUsage/README.md

+
+3. Add DevUI services and map the endpoint:
+   ```csharp
+   builder.AddDevUI();


It felt odd to me to need to AddDevUI regardless of environment, but I understand we don't have the environment until calling Build().

jeffhandley · 2025-10-27T20:31:42Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/Properties/launchSettings.json

+      "environmentVariables": {
+        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
+      },
+      "applicationUrl": "https://localhost:57966;http://localhost:57967"


Could we add /devui/ to the applicationUrl to have it launch the devui automatically?

jeffhandley · 2025-10-27T20:40:45Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/DevUIMiddleware.cs

+        context.Response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status404NotFound;
+    }
+
+    private async Task<bool> TryServeResourceAsync(HttpContext context, string resourcePath)


We'll want to make sure to cover this behavior thoroughly in the threat model to make sure this can't ever serve unexpected resources (without relying on applications gating the devui on Development environment).

jeffhandley · 2025-10-27T20:49:53Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/README.md

+// Map required endpoints
+app.MapEntities();
+app.MapOpenAIResponses();
+app.MapConversations();


When I see 'Entities', I think of my business model entities (ala EF). Augmenting the comment would add context to clarify that 'Entities' here are the agents/workflows.

Suggested change

// Map required endpoints

app.MapEntities();

app.MapOpenAIResponses();

app.MapConversations();

// Map required endpoints for agents and workflows

app.MapEntities();

app.MapOpenAIResponses();

app.MapConversations();

jeffhandley · 2025-10-27T21:06:18Z

dotnet/src/Microsoft.Agents.AI.DevUI/EntitiesApiExtensions.cs

+            {
+                await foreach (var agent in agentCatalog.GetAgentsAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false))
+                {
+                    if (agent.GetType().Name == "WorkflowHostAgent")


I recommend we add an API that allows the app to pass in agents that should be excluded from the devUI. In the prototype Luis had built up, he hid "internal" agents from the devui where a workflow wrapped around those agents, so that only the workflow agent would be shown and the others would not be. He did that by implementing a filter in his corresponding method for discovering the registered agents.

markwallace-microsoft added documentation Improvements or additions to documentation python .NET workflows Related to Workflows in agent-framework labels Oct 21, 2025

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github-actions bot changed the title ~~Add DevUI package for .NET~~ .NET: Add DevUI package for .NET Oct 21, 2025

github-actions bot changed the title ~~.NET: Add DevUI package for .NET~~ Python: Add DevUI package for .NET Oct 21, 2025

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.NET: Is there devui for dotnet version ? #1545

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.NET: [BREAKING] Unify ExecutorIsh and ExecutorRegistration, unify/simplify APIs #1637

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.NET: IHostedAgentBuilder overloads for workflows; simplify workflow extensions #1731

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Motivation and Context

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ReubenBond commented Oct 21, 2025 •

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