Why is Amazon Bedrock Considered a Legacy Provider?

[bestickley]

On the Provider Docs site, Amazon Bedrock is considered a legacy provider. Why is that? Are there any plans to make it a first class citizen so that it'll move under the AI SDK Providers heading?

I have a requirement to use Amazon Bedrock. Would like to use ai-sdk but want to be aware of any limitations using it with Amazon Bedrock.

CC: @lgrammel and @MaxLeiter based on #750

[lgrammel]

You can use the existing Bedrock provider. It uses our legacy provider api approach that is not compatible with the new AI SDK Core, but it works as is with useChat and useCompletion.

[bestickley]

Thanks for the quick response, Lars! Couple questions:

• What am I missing out on if I use a provider that is not compatible with new AI SDK Core?
• Is it possible to create a community/custom provider for Bedrock?
• Is Bedrock incompatible with new AI SDK Core? Or it just hasn't be prioritized?

[lgrammel]

The new AI RSC functionality and things like streamObject/generateObject won't work with the legacy provider.

We have created a language model specification to enable the community to create custom providers for e.g. Bedrock. We are planning to provide detailed guides on how to create providers for the AI SDK. It's mostly a capacity / priority issue, we are currently focussed on improving the SDK itself and the documentation/support around it.

The current guide for creating a custom provider: https://sdk.vercel.ai/providers/community-providers/custom-providers (it's not as detailed as I'd like it to be, but it's a start)

[bestickley]

@lgrammel, understood. thank you for explaining. Since Bedrock supports Anthropic and Mistral AI (both supported by AI SDK) and other models, it seems to me like Bedrock would have been smart to support since you'd enable access to multiple models in one provider, but I'm sure it's not that simple.

[lgrammel]

@bestickley Bedrock has a 2 layer API, at least the last time I looked at it. The have the outer Bedrock layer, and then it contains model/sub-provider specific APIs. I.e. Bedrock/Anthropic is different from Bedrock/Mistral. This makes Bedrock support more challenging.

[bestickley]

Ah, I see. That makes sense. Thank you.