--- title: Stopping Streams description: Learn how to cancel streams with the AI SDK --- # Stopping Streams Cancelling ongoing streams is often needed. For example, users might want to stop a stream when they realize that the response is not what they want. The different parts of the AI SDK support cancelling streams in different ways. ## AI SDK Core The AI SDK functions have an `abortSignal` argument that you can use to cancel a stream. You would use this if you want to cancel a stream from the server side to the LLM API, e.g. by forwarding the `abortSignal` from the request. ```tsx highlight="10,11,12-16" import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai'; import { streamText } from 'ai'; export async function POST(req: Request) { const { prompt } = await req.json(); const result = streamText({ model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5', prompt, // forward the abort signal: abortSignal: req.signal, onAbort: ({ steps }) => { // Handle cleanup when stream is aborted console.log('Stream aborted after', steps.length, 'steps'); // Persist partial results to database }, }); return result.toTextStreamResponse(); } ``` ## AI SDK UI The hooks, e.g. `useChat` or `useCompletion`, provide a `stop` helper function that can be used to cancel a stream. This will cancel the stream from the client side to the server. Stream abort functionality is not compatible with stream resumption. If you're using `resume: true` in `useChat`, the abort functionality will break the resumption mechanism. Choose either abort or resume functionality, but not both. ```tsx file="app/page.tsx" highlight="9,18-20" 'use client'; import { useCompletion } from '@ai-sdk/react'; export default function Chat() { const { input, completion, stop, status, handleSubmit, handleInputChange } = useCompletion(); return (

{(status === 'submitted' || status === 'streaming') && ( )} {completion}

); } ``` ## Handling stream abort cleanup When streams are aborted, you may need to perform cleanup operations such as persisting partial results or cleaning up resources. The `onAbort` callback provides a way to handle these scenarios on the server side. Unlike `onFinish`, which is called when a stream completes normally, `onAbort` is specifically called when a stream is aborted via `AbortSignal`. This distinction allows you to handle normal completion and aborted streams differently. For UI message streams (`toUIMessageStreamResponse`), the `onFinish` callback also receives an `isAborted` parameter that indicates whether the stream was aborted. This allows you to handle both completion and abort scenarios in a single callback. ```tsx highlight="8-12" import { streamText } from 'ai'; const result = streamText({ model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5', prompt: 'Write a long story...', abortSignal: controller.signal, onAbort: ({ steps }) => { // Called when stream is aborted - persist partial results await savePartialResults(steps); await logAbortEvent(steps.length); }, onFinish: ({ steps, totalUsage }) => { // Called when stream completes normally await saveFinalResults(steps, totalUsage); }, }); ``` The `onAbort` callback receives: - `steps`: Array of all completed steps before the abort occurred This is particularly useful for: - Persisting partial conversation history to database - Saving partial progress for later continuation - Cleaning up server-side resources or connections - Logging abort events for analytics You can also handle abort events directly in the stream using the `abort` stream part: ```tsx highlight="8-12" for await (const part of result.fullStream) { switch (part.type) { case 'text-delta': // Handle text delta content break; case 'abort': // Handle abort event directly in stream console.log('Stream was aborted'); break; // ... other cases } } ``` ## UI Message Streams When using `toUIMessageStreamResponse`, you need to handle stream abortion slightly differently. The `onFinish` callback receives an `isAborted` parameter, and you should pass the `consumeStream` function to ensure proper abort handling: ```tsx highlight="5,19,20-24,26" import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai'; import { consumeStream, convertToModelMessages, streamText, UIMessage, } from 'ai'; export async function POST(req: Request) { const { messages }: { messages: UIMessage[] } = await req.json(); const result = streamText({ model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5', messages: convertToModelMessages(messages), abortSignal: req.signal, }); return result.toUIMessageStreamResponse({ onFinish: async ({ isAborted }) => { if (isAborted) { console.log('Stream was aborted'); // Handle abort-specific cleanup } else { console.log('Stream completed normally'); // Handle normal completion } }, consumeSseStream: consumeStream, }); } ``` The `consumeStream` function is necessary for proper abort handling in UI message streams. It ensures that the stream is properly consumed even when aborted, preventing potential memory leaks or hanging connections. ## AI SDK RSC The AI SDK RSC does not currently support stopping streams.

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