AI Conversations | Getting Started

Shiny.AiConversation is a centralized AI conversation service that combines Microsoft.Extensions.AI chat completions with Shiny.Speech for speech recognition, text-to-speech, wake word detection, and audio feedback — all behind a single IAiConversationService interface.

Building a conversational AI experience in a mobile or web app typically means stitching together many concerns yourself: managing chat client authentication, wiring up speech-to-text and text-to-speech, handling microphone permissions, coordinating state between listening/thinking/responding phases, playing audio cues, persisting message history, and exposing tools for the AI to call. Each of these is a separate library with its own lifecycle and threading model.

Shiny.AiConversation collapses all of that into a single service registration and one interface. By default, it resolves IChatClient directly from your DI container — just register your chat client and the library handles the rest. For advanced scenarios (on-demand authentication, token refresh), you can implement IChatClientProvider. Either way, the library manages the entire flow — from capturing the user’s voice, streaming it through speech recognition, sending the transcript to the chat model, reading the response aloud, and optionally persisting the conversation. The entire flow is observable through a simple Status property so your UI always knows what’s happening.

This means you can go from zero to a fully functional voice-enabled AI assistant with wake word support, audio feedback, and chat history in under 50 lines of registration code — and swap AI backends (OpenAI, Azure, Ollama, GitHub Copilot) without changing your app logic.

GitHub
Downloads

Frameworks

.NET

.NET MAUI

Operating Systems

Android

iOS

Windows

Web

Features

• Text chat — send messages via TalkTo() and receive streaming AI responses
• Voice chat — ListenAndTalk() captures speech and sends it to the AI in one call
• Wake word — hands-free activation with StartWakeWord("Hey Copilot") that listens continuously
• Text-to-speech — AI responses can be read aloud automatically
• Audio feedback — configurable sound effects for thinking, responding, ok, cancel, and error states
• Acknowledgement modes — None, AudioBlip, LessWordy, or Full text-to-speech
• System prompts — prepend instructions to every chat request
• Message persistence — optional IMessageStore for chat history storage and retrieval
• AI chat lookup tool — optional AITool that lets the AI search its own conversation history
• Automatic tool discovery — any AITool registered in DI is automatically included in chat requests, so tools from other libraries (Shiny.DI, Shiny.DocumentDb, Shiny.Mediator, etc.) work out of the box
• State tracking — observable Status property (Idle, Listening, Thinking, Responding)
• Pluggable providers — default resolves IChatClient from DI; optionally implement IChatClientProvider for custom auth (OpenAI, Copilot, Ollama, etc.)
• AOT compatible — fully trimmer-safe with IsAotCompatible enabled
• Cross-platform — works on MAUI (Android, iOS, Windows) and Blazor (Server, WASM)

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│     IAiConversationService      │  ← Your app talks to this
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│  IChatClientProvider            │  ← Default resolves IChatClient from DI
│  ISpeechToTextService           │  ← From Shiny.Speech
│  ITextToSpeechService           │  ← From Shiny.Speech
│  IAudioPlayer                   │  ← From Shiny.Speech
│  IMessageStore?                 │  ← Optional persistence (you implement)
│  IEnumerable<AITool>            │  ← Optional AI tools (auto-registered)
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Setup

MAUIBlazor

• NuGet Packages
• Project File
• MauiProgram.cs
• AndroidManifest.xml
• Info.plist
• PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy
• Package.appxmanifest

Shiny.AiConversation

1. Install the NuGet package

   

   dotnet add package Shiny.AiConversation

2. Register a chat client

   The simplest approach is to register an IChatClient in DI — the library resolves it automatically:

   builder.Services.AddChatClient(new OpenAIClient("your-api-key").GetChatClient("gpt-4o").AsIChatClient());

   For advanced scenarios (on-demand authentication, token refresh), implement IChatClientProvider instead — see Chat Client Provider.

3. Register the service in your app

   MAUI (MauiProgram.cs):

   builder.Services.AddShinyAiConversation(opts =>
   {
       // Optional: add message store, configure settings
   });

   Blazor (Program.cs):

   builder.Services.AddShinyAiConversation(opts =>
   {
       // Optional: add message store, configure settings
   });

4. Configure the service after building

   var aiService = app.Services.GetRequiredService<IAiConversationService>();
   
   aiService.SystemPrompts.Add("You are a helpful assistant.");
   
   // Optional: configure sounds (MAUI example)
   aiService.SoundResolver = name => FileSystem.OpenAppPackageFileAsync(name);
   aiService.OkSound = "ok.mp3";
   aiService.ThinkSound = "think.mp3";
   aiService.ErrorSound = "error.mp3";

5. Use the service

   public class ChatViewModel(IAiConversationService aiService)
   {
       public async Task Send(string message)
       {
           aiService.AiResponded += response =>
               Console.WriteLine($"AI: {response.Message}");
   
           await aiService.TalkTo(message, CancellationToken.None);
       }
   }

Quick Example

// Text chat
await aiService.TalkTo("What is .NET MAUI?", cancellationToken);

// Voice chat (push-to-talk)
await aiService.ListenAndTalk(cancellationToken);

// Hands-free wake word
await aiService.StartWakeWord("Hey Copilot");
// ... user says "Hey Copilot, what's the weather?"
// Service automatically captures and sends to AI
aiService.StopWakeWord();

// Chat history (requires IMessageStore)
var history = await aiService.GetChatHistory(limit: 50);
await aiService.ClearChatHistory();

// Acknowledgement modes
aiService.Acknowledgement = AiAcknowledgement.Full;      // Read response aloud
aiService.Acknowledgement = AiAcknowledgement.LessWordy;  // Concise TTS
aiService.Acknowledgement = AiAcknowledgement.AudioBlip;   // Sound effects only
aiService.Acknowledgement = AiAcknowledgement.None;        // Silent

Platform Permissions

Since AI Conversations uses Shiny.Speech for voice features, you must declare speech and microphone permissions.

Android — Add to AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />

iOS — Add to Info.plist:

<key>NSSpeechRecognitionUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app uses speech recognition</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app uses the microphone for speech recognition</string>

Windows — Add the Microphone capability to your Package.appxmanifest:

<Capabilities>
    <DeviceCapability Name="microphone" />
</Capabilities>

Dependencies

All required dependencies are pulled in transitively by the Shiny.AiConversation package — you only need to install the one package.

Package	Purpose
Microsoft.Extensions.AI	IChatClient abstraction for AI chat completions
Shiny.Speech	Speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and audio playback

Samples

• Sample MAUI App — Full chat app with GitHub Copilot, settings, aura visualization
• Sample Blazor App — Server-side Blazor equivalent with the same features

AI Coding Assistant

Claude Code GitHub Copilot

Step 1 — Add the marketplace:

claude plugin marketplace add shinyorg/skills

Step 2 — Install plugins:

claude plugin install shiny-client@shiny

BLE, GPS, Jobs, Notifications, Push, HTTP Transfers, OBD, Music, Health, DataSync — iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, Web

claude plugin install shiny-maui@shiny

Shell, Contact Store

claude plugin install shiny-controls@shiny

TableView, BottomSheet, PillView, ImageViewer, Scheduler, Markdown, Mermaid Diagrams — MAUI and Blazor

claude plugin install shiny-mediator@shiny

Mediator/CQRS with middleware and source generators

claude plugin install shiny-data@shiny

DocumentDB and Spatial data libraries

claude plugin install shiny-aspire@shiny

Orleans and Gluetun Aspire integrations

claude plugin install shiny-extensions@shiny

DI, Stores, Reflector, Localization, Hosting modules

Step 1 — Add the marketplace:

copilot plugin marketplace add https://github.com/shinyorg/skills

Step 2 — Install plugins:

copilot plugin install shiny-client@shiny

BLE, GPS, Jobs, Notifications, Push, HTTP Transfers, OBD, Music, Health, DataSync — iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, Web

copilot plugin install shiny-maui@shiny

Shell, Contact Store

copilot plugin install shiny-controls@shiny

TableView, BottomSheet, PillView, ImageViewer, Scheduler, Markdown, Mermaid Diagrams — MAUI and Blazor

copilot plugin install shiny-mediator@shiny

Mediator/CQRS with middleware and source generators

copilot plugin install shiny-data@shiny

DocumentDB and Spatial data libraries

copilot plugin install shiny-aspire@shiny

Orleans and Gluetun Aspire integrations

copilot plugin install shiny-extensions@shiny

DI, Stores, Reflector, Localization, Hosting modules

View Skills Repository

Next Steps

• Chat Client Provider — How to implement IChatClientProvider for different AI backends
• Message Store — Persist and query chat history
• Acknowledgements & Sound — Configure audio feedback and text-to-speech modes
• Wake Word — Hands-free voice activation
• AI Tools — Register AI tools including the built-in chat history lookup