Use the Web Interface

Supported in ADKPython v0.1.0TypeScript v0.2.0Go v0.1.0Java v0.1.0

The ADK web interface lets you test your agents directly in the browser. This tool provides a simple way to interactively develop and debug your agents.

Caution: ADK Web for development only

ADK Web is not meant for use in production deployments. You should use ADK Web for development and debugging purposes only.

Key features of the ADK web interface include:

• Chat interface: Send messages to your agents and view responses in real-time
• Session management: Create and switch between sessions
• State inspection: View and modify session state during development
• Event history: Inspect all events generated during agent execution
• Visual Builder: Design agents visually with a drag-and-drop workflow editor and an AI-powered assistant (Python only, learn more)

Start the web interface

Use the following command to start the ADK web interface:

PythonTypeScriptGoJava

adk web

npx adk web

In Go, the web interface is not a standalone CLI tool. Instead, you embed the launcher directly in your agent's main.go and pass arguments at runtime. The full.NewLauncher() helper bundles the web server, REST API, and Web UI into a single binary:

main.go

import (
    "google.golang.org/adk/cmd/launcher"
    "google.golang.org/adk/cmd/launcher/full"
)

func main() {
    // ... build your agent and config ...
    l := full.NewLauncher()
    if err := l.Execute(ctx, config, os.Args[1:]); err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Run failed: %v\n\n%s", err, l.CommandLineSyntax())
    }
}

Then start the web interface by passing the web, api, and webui subcommands on the command line:

go run agent.go web api webui

The web keyword activates the HTTP server. api adds the ADK REST API backend, and webui serves the browser-based chat interface. Both api and webui are required to use the web interface together; either can be omitted if you only need the API or UI independently.

Make sure to update the port number.

MavenGradle

With Maven, compile and run the ADK web server:

mvn compile exec:java \
 -Dexec.args="--adk.agents.source-dir=src/main/java/agents --server.port=8000"

With Gradle, the build.gradle or build.gradle.kts build file should have the following Java plugin in its plugins section:

plugins {
    id('java')
    // other plugins
}

Then, elsewhere in the build file, at the top-level, create a new task:

tasks.register('runADKWebServer', JavaExec) {
    dependsOn classes
    classpath = sourceSets.main.runtimeClasspath
    mainClass = 'com.google.adk.web.AdkWebServer'
    args '--adk.agents.source-dir=src/main/java/agents', '--server.port=8000'
}

Finally, on the command-line, run the following command:

gradle runADKWebServer

In Java, the web interface and the API server are bundled together.

Once started, the server prints the access URL to the console. Open it in your browser to use the web interface:

PythonTypeScriptGoJava

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ADK Web Server started                                                      |
|                                                                             |
| For local testing, access at http://localhost:8000.                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ADK Web Server started                                                      |
|                                                                             |
| For local testing, access at http://localhost:8000.                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

2025/01/01 00:00:00 Starting the web server: &{port:8080 ...}
2025/01/01 00:00:00 Web servers starts on http://localhost:8080
2025/01/01 00:00:00        webui:  you can access API using http://localhost:8080/ui/
2025/01/01 00:00:00        api:  you can access API using http://localhost:8080/api

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ADK Web Server started                                                      |
|                                                                             |
| For local testing, access at http://localhost:8000.                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Common options

PythonTypeScriptGo

Here are some commonly used options for the adk web command. Run adk web --help to see all available options.

Option	Description	Default
--port	Port to run the server on	8000
--host	Host binding address	127.0.0.1
--session_service_uri	Custom session storage URI	In-memory
--artifact_service_uri	Custom artifact storage URI	Local .adk/artifacts
--reload/--no-reload	Enable auto-reload on code changes	true

For example:

adk web --port 3000 --session_service_uri "sqlite:///sessions.db"

Here are some commonly used options for the adk web command. Run adk web --help to see all available options.

Option	Description	Default
--port	Port to run the server on	8000
--host	Host binding address	127.0.0.1
--session_service_uri	Custom session storage URI	In-memory
--artifact_service_uri	Custom artifact storage URI	Local .adk/artifacts
--reload/--no-reload	Enable auto-reload on code changes	true

For example:

adk web --port 3000 --session_service_uri "sqlite:///sessions.db"

Go flags differ from Python/TypeScript

The Go web launcher does not use the same flags as adk web in Python or TypeScript. Options like --host, --session_service_uri, --artifact_service_uri, and --reload are not available. Session and artifact services are configured in Go code when constructing the launcher.Config, not via command-line flags.

Flags are split across the web, api, and webui subcommands. Pass flags after the relevant subcommand keyword.

web subcommand flags (passed directly after web):

Flag	Description	Default
-port	Port for the HTTP server	8080
-write-timeout	Timeout for writing HTTP responses	15s
-read-timeout	Timeout for reading HTTP requests	15s
-idle-timeout	Keep-alive idle connection timeout	60s
-shutdown-timeout	Graceful shutdown wait time	15s
-otel_to_cloud	Export OpenTelemetry data to GCP	false

api subcommand flags (passed after api):

Flag	Description	Default
-webui_address	WebUI origin allowed for CORS	localhost:8080
-path_prefix	URL path prefix for the REST API	/api
-sse-write-timeout	Timeout for SSE (streaming) responses	120s
-trace_capacity	Max in-memory traces to retain	10000

webui subcommand flags (passed after webui):

Flag	Description	Default
-api_server_address	REST API URL as seen from the browser	http://localhost:8080/api

For example, to run on port 9090 with a custom API prefix:

go run agent.go web -port 9090 api -path_prefix /myapi webui -api_server_address http://localhost:9090/myapi