ADK Dev Console

The Dev Console is a local app served at port 3001 (by default, but can be customized) during adk dev. It gives developers real-time visibility into their agent's behavior — conversations, execution traces, data, integrations, and configuration.

When to Use This Skill

Activate when users ask about:

• UI concepts — "What are Agent Steps?", "What does the Observe tab show?", "What is a turn?"
• Dev Console navigation — "What tabs are available?", "Where do I find traces?", "How do I test RAG?"
• Reading execution data — "What do the steps mean?", "Why is my step red?", "What's the cost shown?"
• Specific pages — "How do I use the evals page?", "Where do I configure integrations?", "How do I search knowledge?"
• Comparing UI vs CLI — "Should I use the Dev Console or CLI for debugging?"
• Mentions of localhost:3001, "dev console", "Dev Console", or specific tab names (Chat, Build, Components, Data, Test, Observe, Config)

Available Documentation

File	Contents
references/agent-steps.md	Agent Steps visualization — turns, iterations, tools, messages, state mutations, cost tracking, status indicators
references/pages.md	Every page/tab in the Dev Console — what it shows, key features, layout

How to Answer

Match depth to the question:

• "What is X?" (e.g., "What are Agent Steps?") → One sentence definition + what the user sees. Don't dump the full data model.
• "Where do I find X?" → Name the tab group and page, give the URL path.
• "How do I read X?" → Explain the visual hierarchy and what each element means.
• "What does this mean?" (pointing at something in the UI) → Identify the component, explain its meaning.

Quick Reference

Tab Groups

Group	Pages	Purpose
Chat	Chat	Test the agent via webchat + see Agent Steps
Build	Story	Visual agent flow graph (feature-flagged)
Components	Actions, Workflows, Triggers	Browse and test bot primitives
Test	RAG Search, Evals	Test knowledge search and run automated evals
Data	Knowledge, Tables, Files	Manage knowledge bases, tables, and files
Observe	Conversations, Traces, Logs	View conversation history, execution traces, runtime logs
Config	Settings, Integrations	Agent config, secrets, LLM settings, integration management

Agent Steps (Chat Page)

The right panel of the Chat page shows Agent Steps — a real-time visualization of what the agent did to process each message.

Hierarchy: Turn → Iterations → Tools / Messages / State Mutations

• Turn = one conversation exchange (user message → agent processing → response)
• Iteration = one loop of the autonomous agent (think → decide → act)
• Tool = a tool call within an iteration (violet card)
• Message = a bot message sent (blue card)
• State Mutation = a state change (teal card, shows before/after)

Status indicators: ✓ green = ok, ✗ red = error, ⟳ blue spinning = running

AI metrics per iteration: model name, input/output tokens, cost (USD)

Key URLs

Path	Page
/chat	Chat + Agent Steps
/actions	Actions browser
/workflows	Workflows + run history
/search	RAG search testing
/evals	Eval definitions + runs
/knowledge	Knowledge base management
/tables	Table data management
/traces	Full trace viewer
/conversations	Conversation history
/logs	Runtime logs
/settings	Agent configuration
/integrations	Integration management