Building Agentic UI with Blazor for Modern AI-Driven Applications
Agentic UI lets you use software in smarter ways. You can talk, type, or use pictures to finish tasks. Many companies use agentic tools every day. For example:
85% of companies using AI have agentic features now.
88% of leaders are trying or growing autonomous agents.
67% of decision-makers think agent-led tools will change jobs soon.
Blazor helps you make these smart, multi-modal interfaces. If you use AI-driven patterns and Microsoft’s Human-AI design rules, you make user experiences better. These tools help people work faster and easier.
Key Takeaways
Agentic UI uses smart tools that help people work faster and easier. These tools use text, voice, and pictures together.
Blazor lets you make Agentic UI with parts you can use again. These parts connect to AI services like OpenAI and Azure AI.
If you follow ideas like being clear, building trust, and changing to fit users, your app feels smarter. This also helps users stay in control.
Using things like chat interfaces, helpful tips, and layouts that change can make the app better. This helps people get more done.
Always focus on making your app easy to use, safe, and well-tested. This helps you build fast, safe, and fair AI apps that people really need.
Agentic UI Fundamentals
Core Principles
You can make Agentic UI by using some main ideas. These ideas help your app feel smarter and easier to use. They also help your interface work well with AI agents and support users in different ways.
Tip: Try using split-screen layouts. You can see chats on one side and agent actions on the other. This helps you watch what the agent does and lets you stay in control.
Here are steps you can use to follow these ideas: 1. Let agents watch what you do so they can help better. 2. Have agents suggest things at the right time. 3. Make your interface change to fit what you like. 4. Show when the agent is guessing or sure, so you know what to expect. 5. Keep buttons and controls simple and the same to build trust.
Benefits
When you use Agentic UI, you get many good things. Users can do more, save time, and have a better experience.
The app makes choices just for you, so it feels more fun.
Agents keep learning, so your app stays helpful and new.
AI agents work all day and night, so users always get help.
Real results show big gains in how fast and happy people are.
You can see these good things in many jobs. For example, companies finish loans faster, make customers happier, and spend less money. Stores sell more and keep more customers. Factories save a lot of money by fixing things before they break. These results show Agentic UI can help your app be special and give real value.
Blazor for Agentic UI
Component Model
Blazor lets you build web apps with parts called components. You can make each part of your Agentic UI as its own component. For example, you might make a chat window, a panel for suggestions, or a box for voice input. Each component takes care of its own job and how it looks. This makes your app simple to fix and change.
To build your components, you can follow these steps:
Make a new Blazor project in Visual Studio or VS Code.
Add a Razor component for each feature, like
ChatPanel.razororVoiceInput.razor.Use parameters to send data between your components.
Handle what users do with event callbacks.
Use CSS to make each part look nice and clean.
Note: You can use different components together to make your layout. For example, you can put a chat panel next to a list of suggestions. This helps users see what the agent does and what it suggests at the same time.
AI Integration
Blazor helps you connect your components to AI services easily. You use Microsoft.Extensions.AI libraries to talk to language models. This lets you work with many AI providers, like OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or Google Gemini. If you want to switch providers, you do not need to change much code. Most changes are in your startup settings or NuGet packages.
The IChatClient interface lets your components send and get messages from AI models. You can also add your own middleware to use private or custom AI models. Many developers use this to make chatbots, smart suggestion panels, or data visualizations with AI.
Here is a simple way to use IChatClient in a Blazor component:
@inject IChatClient ChatClient
<button @onclick="SendMessage">Ask Agent</button>
@code {
private async Task SendMessage()
{
var response = await ChatClient.SendMessageAsync("What can you do?");
// Show response in the UI
}
}
This way, you can build Agentic UI features that are safe, flexible, and modern. Your app can grow and change as you need.
Agentic UI Patterns
Conversational Interfaces
You can make strong chat interfaces in Blazor with dynamic components. This lets your app show different chats for each user. For example, Blazor’s DynamicComponent can show a chat window that fits user needs. Some apps use one input bar, like ChatGPT, for simple chats. Others add a taskbar or widget, so users can chat while doing other things. You can also mix these ways for more choices.
Here is a basic chat panel in Blazor:
<DynamicComponent Type="@CurrentChatComponent" Parameters="CurrentParameters" />
This code lets you switch chat parts for each user. You can show AI replies right away by using Blazor with JavaScript. This makes chats feel quick and fun.
Tip: Use clear prompts and feedback in your chat UI. This follows Microsoft’s Human-AI design rules and helps users trust the agent.
Proactive Suggestions
Proactive suggestions help users finish tasks faster. You can add a suggestion panel in Blazor that updates as users work. For example, when a user types a message, the agent can suggest replies or actions. Many industries use this pattern to save time and improve results.
You can use Blazor parts to show suggestions as cards or lists. This helps users stay focused and act fast.
Adaptive Layouts
Adaptive layouts make your app easy for everyone to use. You can use AI to change the layout for each user or device. For example, your app can show bigger buttons for touch screens. It can also make menus simpler for new users. Blazor lets you update parts and layouts right away.
Change features for each device or place.
Give feedback right away with small actions.
These patterns follow AG-UI rules and Microsoft’s design ideas. They help you build Agentic UI that works for all users and keeps them interested.
Building with Blazor
Project Setup
You can start your agentic app by making a Blazor project. Blazor lets you build web pages with C# and Razor. You do not need JavaScript for most things. There are two ways to host your app: Blazor Server or Blazor WebAssembly. Both let you make web apps that are fast and easy to use.
To set up your project, do these steps: 1. Get Visual Studio 2019 or newer with the web tools. 2. Open Visual Studio and pick "Create a new project." 3. Pick "Blazor App" from the list. 4. Click "Next" and name your project. 5. Choose "Blazor Server App" or "Blazor WebAssembly App." 6. Pick the target framework and click "Create." 7. Look at the files in your new project. 8. Press Ctrl + F5 to run your app and check if it works.
Blazor works well with JavaScript APIs and libraries. You can also use .NET libraries again in your project. This helps you share code and keep things simple. There are many UI libraries to help you make cool web pages.
Tip: Begin with a basic layout. Add more features as you learn how each part works.
AI Services Integration
You can make your Blazor app smarter by adding AI services. Many people use OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or NLWeb. These services let you add voice, pictures, and language features to your app.
To add AI services: 1. Add the right NuGet packages for your AI provider. 2. Register the AI service in your Startup.cs or Program.cs. 3. Put the AI client (like IChatClient) into your components. 4. Use the client to send and get messages from the AI.
Here is a simple way to use an AI chat client in Blazor:
@inject IChatClient ChatClient
<button @onclick="SendMessage">Ask Agent</button>
@code {
private async Task SendMessage()
{
var response = await ChatClient.SendMessageAsync("How can you help me?");
// Show the response in your UI
}
}
You can change your AI provider by updating your settings. This lets you try new models or services without changing your code.
Designing Components
When you make agentic parts in Blazor, use good habits to keep your code neat. You should know how the component lifecycle works. This helps you control when your page updates, which is important for agentic features.
Follow these steps for good component design: 1. Split your UI into small, reusable parts. For example, make different parts for chat, suggestions, and voice input. 2. Give each part a clear job. This makes your code easier to test and change. 3. Use parameters to send data between parts. 4. Handle events by linking C# methods to HTML events. 5. Stop listening to events when a part is removed to avoid memory leaks. 6. Make sure your parts work in both Blazor Server and WebAssembly.
Note: Use the bUnit testing library to check your parts. You can write tests in C# or Razor. This helps you make sure your parts work right and keeps your Agentic UI strong.
User-Agent Interaction
You can make your app better by letting users use text, voice, or pictures. Blazor lets you handle these inputs by using AI services and JavaScript for special features.
Good tips for user-agent interaction are: - Give clear prompts and feedback so users know what the agent does. - Show suggestions and actions right away to keep users interested. - Change the interface for each user or device. - Make your app easy to use by using semantic HTML and ARIA.
To watch and improve user-agent interaction, use tools like OpenTelemetry and New Relic. OpenTelemetry collects data like traces, metrics, and logs. New Relic shows dashboards and alerts for speed, memory, and errors. These tools help you find and fix problems fast.
Tip: Always test your app with real users. Watch how they use the agent. Use what you learn to make your design better.
By following these steps, you can make a modern Agentic UI with Blazor. Your apps will be smart, flexible, and ready for what comes next.
Best Practices and Challenges
Usability and Performance
You want your app to be easy for everyone. Start by using accessibility rules like WCAG 2.2 and WAI-ARIA 1.2. Make sure people can use the keyboard to move around. Add ARIA roles and states so screen readers can help users. Check color contrast and pick themes that are easy to see. Test your app with screen readers like JAWS and NVDA. Try your app in different browsers to see if it works. Add labels and messages in many languages to help more people. Run tests to find and fix accessibility problems.
To keep your app fast, break your code into small pieces. Use Blazor’s component model to update only what changes. Watch your app’s speed with tools like New Relic. Fix slow parts as soon as you find them.
Security
Keeping your app and user data safe is very important. Never put secrets, passwords, or private keys in client-side code. Always check if users can do something on the server side. Use secure web APIs or Blazor Server for authentication. Managed identities in Azure help you connect to services without secrets in your code. If you use Blazor WebAssembly, do not keep sensitive data in the browser. Sandbox your modules and limit what each part can do. Scan your code for problems with tools like Snyk.
AI features can bring new risks. Only collect the data you need and make it anonymous when you can. Watch for bias in your AI and test it often. Use strong encryption and multi-factor authentication to keep data safe. Always control who can see or change your AI tools.
Common Pitfalls
Some mistakes happen a lot. You might forget to test your app with real users. You might skip accessibility checks. You could store secrets in the browser by mistake. You might not update your AI models or check them for bias. You could miss new privacy rules. Avoid these mistakes by testing often, following best practices, and learning about new laws.
Tip: Teach your team about privacy and security rules. Update your app when laws or tools change.
Real-World Example
A healthcare company made a Blazor app for patient scheduling. They used keyboard navigation and ARIA roles so everyone could use it. They kept all sensitive data on the server and used Azure managed identities. The team tested the app with screen readers and different browsers. They set up automated audits for privacy and security. Because of this, patients scheduled visits faster, and the company followed all privacy laws.
You can make a good Agentic UI by using Blazor the right way. Build your app with simple parts and connect it to AI services. Make sure everyone can use your app. Multi-modal interfaces with AI help you build smarter apps that use Microsoft’s Human-AI design ideas. If you want to learn more, check out Ignite UI for Blazor, Query Builder guides, and sample apps. You can also join groups on Discord or GitHub for help. Watch webinars and read blogs to learn new things and get better at building apps.
FAQ
How do you start a Blazor project for Agentic UI?
You open Visual Studio, choose "Blazor App," and select either Server or WebAssembly. Name your project and click "Create." You see starter files and can run your app with Ctrl + F5.
What AI services can you use with Blazor?
You can use OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or NLWeb. Add the right NuGet package, register the service, and inject the client into your components. This lets you add chat, voice, or vision features.
How do you make your Agentic UI accessible?
You add ARIA roles, labels, and keyboard navigation. Test with screen readers like JAWS or NVDA. Use high-contrast colors and clear text. Make sure everyone can use your app.
Can you update your AI provider without changing your code?
Yes. You change your settings or update your NuGet package. Your components use the same interface, so you do not need to rewrite your code.
What tools help you monitor your Blazor app’s performance?
You use New Relic for dashboards and alerts. OpenTelemetry collects traces and logs. These tools show speed, memory, and errors. You find problems and fix them quickly.