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The idea of UI generated on the fly instead of pre-built reached production in 2025. After a year of real-world use, the balance is more nuanced than the initial enthusiasm suggested.
Agents that drive the browser and desktop pay off on low-volume tasks over systems without an API. Which patterns survive in production, why long tasks fail, what a 20-step task costs at Anthropic's prices and which security measures the official documentation requires.
After two years watching every product invent its own interface for talking to an agent, by January 2026 a stable design consensus is emerging about which patterns work, which do not, and what the average user already expects. Time to write down what has settled.
A year after chat stopped being the only acceptable way to talk to an agent, UI patterns built specifically for agent tasks are emerging. I go through the ones starting to stick and the ones that are just cycle fashion.
