MAUI - Azure AI Foundry Agent Service

[chrmeehansr]

Hi - Working on a project that is all maui and azure.. Currently using the semantic kernel with chatcompletion and all is working. Late to the party and looking to start to leverage AI Foundry Services to expand and build more. Is there a clear starting point to integrating .net maui client side code with an Azure AI Foundry project and agent service? Every permutation I've tried with AIProjectClient, PersistentAgentsClient, the Foundry Unified clients library, hit walls with using tokens or api keys (which in the project there is a few different endpoints).. Can I not connect directly from my mobile client to the agent service? Do I need to deploy the agent to a container or some other exposed endpoint?

My github copilot agent and I hit walls and reverted back but want to ensure I can leverage the toolset and build on it.

Also, fyi.. this url has some dead links in it.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/semantic-kernel/using-azure-ai-agents-with-semantic-kernel-in-net-and-python/

First link in the intro.. Today we’re excited to dive into Semantic Kernel and Azure AI Agents. There are additional details about using an AzureAIAgent within Semantic Kernel covered in our documentation here.

-C

[markwallace-microsoft]

@crickman can you help here?

[crickman]

@chrmeehansr - Thanks for the questions.

Apologies on the broken links. Our docs were recently re-structured.

Here is the location that th first links should resolve_ to: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/semantic-kernel/frameworks/agent/agent-types/azure-ai-agent?pivots=programming-language-csharp

As of this point-in-time, I'd recomend to use PersistentAgentsClient. You will need to ensure you are targeting a Foundry Project created on or after May 19th. Foundry Projects only support connecting via token, not api-key.

In terms of application design, I'd tend to favor managing the agent interaction at the service scope and not in the client-side code.

[okst666]

As of this point-in-time, I'd recomend to use PersistentAgentsClient. You will need to ensure you are targeting a Foundry Project created on or after May 19th. Foundry Projects only support connecting via token, not api-key.

Why is that? When will it support api keys? Whats the point of all those api-keys on the foundry project pages then?

Currently I have a chatbot running with SK to automatically call predefined functions.
I would love to be able to say to the bot "take this data and make it into a nice bar chart".
I'd create a SK function that can call a foundry project agent with code interpreter, pass the data and then the magic happens. Charts created by willpower.
But I do not have any azure credentials there.

Or is there any other way to achieve what I want?

[chrmeehansr]

Not a problem on the docs, I found it and just wanted to share the dead link. Thank you both for getting back. I'll dig some more in how to best get this done with my current setup. I tried the PersistentAgentsClient but got hung up on the token/api-key as well as dependencies referencing beta requirements, etc.. and ended up with a bit of spaghetti trying to get it working. I ripped it all out and posted here :)

Just to be clear and forgive my ignorance, client side in my MAUI codebase... I should have my existing kernel setup for ChatCompletions, which is working + have it configured in parallel also to connect to my agent-based Foundry project. My existing model-router endpoint only hands off to other models, there is no single endpoint to hand it off for both tasks and other agent-->tool needs.

For example, I'm chatting today in my solution, great. I setup a new agent/tool or agent/agent to handle various tasks as well as leverage my tripadvisorAPI connection. In theory, should I get connected using the PersistentAgentsClient, it will handle all model routing for chat completions, model routing and agent routing? My single endpoint concierge? Keep in mind I'm all Azure/MAUI so have access to anything I need really to proceed based on design best practices.

Lastly, In terms of the best place to ask these types of questions and provide any updates, is it here or somewhere else? Don't want to add unnecessary noise if it's best suited for a different forum?

Thanks again. -C

[crickman]

The SK team doesn't own the Foundry service. We're happy to assist as much as we can, but there are Foundry specific support channels listed here:

https://azure.microsoft.com/blog/azure-ai-foundry-your-ai-app-and-agent-factory