v5 - Provide React state as context to specific AI tools

[RicSala]

Problem

I have a React application using the AI SDK where I need to provide current React state (unsaved document content) as context to specific AI tools (so ai can modify that state, which is still not in the db, only in react state), but I don't want to send this context with every message - only when certain tools are called that actually need it.

// React state representing a document being edited
const [slideContent, setSlideContent] = useState('Draft content...');
const [currentSlideId, setCurrentSlideId] = useState<string | null>(null);
const [presentationTheme, setPresentationTheme] = useState('professional');
const [slides, setSlides] = useState<Array<{ id: string; content: string; title: string }>>([]);

I have tools like createSlide and updateSlide that need to be aware of this state to make contextual decisions, but other tools like weather don't need it.

Current Setup

// Client
const { messages, sendMessage } = useChat<MyMessage>({
  transport: new DefaultChatTransport({ api: '/api/chat' }),
  // ... other options
});

// Server
export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages } = await req.json();
  
  const stream = createUIMessageStream({
    execute: ({ writer: dataStream }) => {
      const result = streamText({
        model: openai('gpt-4o'),
        messages: convertToModelMessages(messages),
        tools: {
          createSlide: createSlideTool({ dataStream }),
          updateSlide: updateSlideTool({ dataStream }),
          weather: weatherTool,
        },
      });
      // ...
    },
  });
}

Question

What's the recommended way to:

• Detect when specific tools are about to be called
• Provide React state as context only for those tool executions
• Keep this context separate from the conversation history

Thank you!

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