Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is powering a new breed of AI interfaces — but with great flexibility comes messy state. In this talk, we’ll dive into the real-world challenge of managing UI state in apps powered by generative backends. You’ll learn practical patterns to track sources, follow user intent, and tame AI responses, all without reinventing your frontend architecture.

• Enabling a server-side UI to update the server
• Replicating side effects based on the calls
• Updating the interface seamlessly in real time

The options for front end web development in 2025 are expansive, offering powerful features to consider, like utilising client or server components, and diverse data fetching strategies. Yet, with so many options, it is easy to become overly focused on the architectural approach and risk losing sight of our fundamental goal - user experience. This talk examines the potential downsides of prioritising one architectural approach over another - or prioritising any at all - and poses the question: as we build with these modern frameworks, should the guiding principle be the approach we take, or the quality of the user experience we deliver?

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is powering a new breed of AI interfaces — but with great flexibility comes messy state. In this talk, we’ll dive into the real-world challenge of managing UI state in apps powered by generative backends. You’ll learn practical patterns to track sources, follow user intent, and tame AI responses, all without reinventing your frontend architecture.

• Enabling a server-side UI to update the server
• Replicating side effects based on the calls
• Updating the interface seamlessly in real time

The options for front end web development in 2025 are expansive, offering powerful features to consider, like utilising client or server components, and diverse data fetching strategies. Yet, with so many options, it is easy to become overly focused on the architectural approach and risk losing sight of our fundamental goal - user experience. This talk examines the potential downsides of prioritising one architectural approach over another - or prioritising any at all - and poses the question: as we build with these modern frameworks, should the guiding principle be the approach we take, or the quality of the user experience we deliver?