Building Conversational AI Apps
Create engaging conversational experiences using Synqly
Conversational apps are more than “send prompt → show response”. Great experiences have: • Fast feedback (streaming, typing indicators) • Clear system behavior (tone, safety, constraints) • Strong context handling (history, summaries) • Reliability (retries, fallbacks) This guide focuses on practical patterns you can ship: how to store messages, stream tokens, craft system prompts, and keep costs under control.
Conversation Architecture
A well-designed conversational AI application consists of several key components: • Message history management • Context window optimization • Streaming response handling • State persistence • Error recovery
Pro Tip
Keep conversation history under 4000 tokens for optimal performance and cost management.
Managing Message History
Maintain conversation context by storing message history:
interface Message {
role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'system';
content: string;
timestamp?: Date;
}
class ConversationManager {
private messages: Message[] = [];
private maxMessages = 20;
addMessage(role: Message['role'], content: string) {
this.messages.push({ role, content, timestamp: new Date() });
// Keep only recent messages to manage context window
if (this.messages.length > this.maxMessages) {
this.messages = this.messages.slice(-this.maxMessages);
}
}
getMessages(): Message[] {
return this.messages;
}
clear() {
this.messages = [];
}
}Implementing Streaming Responses
Stream responses for real-time user feedback:
async function streamChat(messages: Message[]) {
const stream = await synqly.chat.completions.create({
model: 'gpt-4',
messages,
stream: true
});
let fullResponse = '';
for await (const chunk of stream) {
const content = chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content || '';
fullResponse += content;
// Update UI with each chunk
updateChatUI(content);
}
return fullResponse;
}Crafting Effective System Prompts
System prompts define your AI assistant's personality and behavior:
const systemPrompt: Message = {
role: 'system',
content: `You are a helpful customer support assistant for Synqly.
Guidelines:
- Be concise and friendly
- Provide code examples when relevant
- Ask clarifying questions if needed
- Admit when you don't know something
- Direct users to documentation for complex topics
Tone: Professional yet approachable`
};
const messages = [
systemPrompt,
...conversationHistory
];UI Best Practices
Create an intuitive chat interface: • Show typing indicators during streaming • Display timestamps for context • Allow message editing and regeneration • Implement copy-to-clipboard for responses • Add loading states and error messages • Support markdown rendering • Enable code syntax highlighting
Safety & Quality Guardrails
For production chat apps: • Add moderation for user input if needed • Validate tool/function outputs • Strip secrets (API keys, tokens) from prompt context • Define a fallback response for outages • Add a human escalation path for sensitive workflows
State Persistence
Store conversations for user continuity:
// Save conversation to database
async function saveConversation(userId: string, messages: Message[]) {
await db.conversations.create({
userId,
messages: JSON.stringify(messages),
lastActive: new Date()
});
}
// Load conversation history
async function loadConversation(userId: string, conversationId: string) {
const conversation = await db.conversations.findOne({
userId,
id: conversationId
});
return JSON.parse(conversation.messages);
}