temetro/.agents/skills/ai-elements/references/conversation.md

Conversation

Wraps messages and automatically scrolls to the bottom. Also includes a scroll button that appears when not at the bottom.

The Conversation component wraps messages and automatically scrolls to the bottom. Also includes a scroll button that appears when not at the bottom.

Installation

npx ai-elements@latest add conversation

Usage with AI SDK

Build a simple conversational UI with Conversation and PromptInput:

Add the following component to your frontend:

"use client";

import {
  Conversation,
  ConversationContent,
  ConversationDownload,
  ConversationEmptyState,
  ConversationScrollButton,
} from "@/components/ai-elements/conversation";
import {
  Message,
  MessageContent,
  MessageResponse,
} from "@/components/ai-elements/message";
import {
  PromptInput,
  type PromptInputMessage,
  PromptInputTextarea,
  PromptInputSubmit,
} from "@/components/ai-elements/prompt-input";
import { MessageSquare } from "lucide-react";
import { useState } from "react";
import { useChat } from "@ai-sdk/react";

const ConversationDemo = () => {
  const [input, setInput] = useState("");
  const { messages, sendMessage, status } = useChat();

  const handleSubmit = (message: PromptInputMessage) => {
    if (message.text.trim()) {
      sendMessage({ text: message.text });
      setInput("");
    }
  };

  return (
    <div className="max-w-4xl mx-auto p-6 relative size-full rounded-lg border h-[600px]">
      <div className="flex flex-col h-full">
        <Conversation>
          <ConversationContent>
            {messages.length === 0 ? (
              <ConversationEmptyState
                icon={<MessageSquare className="size-12" />}
                title="Start a conversation"
                description="Type a message below to begin chatting"
              />
            ) : (
              messages.map((message) => (
                <Message from={message.role} key={message.id}>
                  <MessageContent>
                    {message.parts.map((part, i) => {
                      switch (part.type) {
                        case "text": // we don't use any reasoning or tool calls in this example
                          return (
                            <MessageResponse key={`${message.id}-${i}`}>
                              {part.text}
                            </MessageResponse>
                          );
                        default:
                          return null;
                      }
                    })}
                  </MessageContent>
                </Message>
              ))
            )}
          </ConversationContent>
          <ConversationDownload messages={messages} />
          <ConversationScrollButton />
        </Conversation>

        <PromptInput
          onSubmit={handleSubmit}
          className="mt-4 w-full max-w-2xl mx-auto relative"
        >
          <PromptInputTextarea
            value={input}
            placeholder="Say something..."
            onChange={(e) => setInput(e.currentTarget.value)}
            className="pr-12"
          />
          <PromptInputSubmit
            status={status === "streaming" ? "streaming" : "ready"}
            disabled={!input.trim()}
            className="absolute bottom-1 right-1"
          />
        </PromptInput>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default ConversationDemo;

Add the following route to your backend:

import { streamText, UIMessage, convertToModelMessages } from "ai";

// Allow streaming responses up to 30 seconds
export const maxDuration = 30;

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages }: { messages: UIMessage[] } = await req.json();

  const result = streamText({
    model: "openai/gpt-4o",
    messages: await convertToModelMessages(messages),
  });

  return result.toUIMessageStreamResponse();
}

Features

• Automatic scrolling to the bottom when new messages are added
• Smooth scrolling behavior with configurable animation
• Scroll button that appears when not at the bottom
• Download conversation as Markdown
• Responsive design with customizable padding and spacing
• Flexible content layout with consistent message spacing
• Accessible with proper ARIA roles for screen readers
• Customizable styling through className prop
• Support for any number of child message components

Props

<Conversation />

Prop	Type	Default	Description
contextRef	React.Ref<StickToBottomContext>	-	Optional ref to access the StickToBottom context object.
instance	StickToBottomInstance	-	Optional instance for controlling the StickToBottom component.
children	`((context: StickToBottomContext) => ReactNode)	ReactNode`	-
...props	Omit<React.HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement>,	-	Any other props are spread to the root div.

<ConversationContent />

Prop	Type	Default	Description
children	`((context: StickToBottomContext) => ReactNode)	ReactNode`	-
...props	Omit<React.HTMLAttributes<HTMLDivElement>,	-	Any other props are spread to the root div.

<ConversationEmptyState />

Prop	Type	Default	Description
title	string	-	The title text to display.
description	string	-	The description text to display.
icon	React.ReactNode	-	Optional icon to display above the text.
children	React.ReactNode	-	Optional additional content to render below the text.
...props	ComponentProps<	-	Any other props are spread to the root div.

<ConversationScrollButton />

Prop	Type	Default	Description
...props	ComponentProps<typeof Button>	-	Any other props are spread to the underlying shadcn/ui Button component.

<ConversationDownload />

A button that downloads the conversation as a Markdown file.

import { ConversationDownload } from "@/components/ai-elements/conversation";

<Conversation>
  <ConversationContent>
    {messages.map(...)}
  </ConversationContent>
  <ConversationDownload messages={messages} />
  <ConversationScrollButton />
</Conversation>

Prop	Type	Default	Description
messages	UIMessage[]	Required	Array of messages to include in the download.
filename	string	-	The filename for the downloaded file.
formatMessage	(message: UIMessage, index: number) => string	-	Custom function to format each message in the output.
...props	Omit<ComponentProps<typeof Button>,	-	Any other props are spread to the underlying shadcn/ui Button component.

messagesToMarkdown

A utility function to convert messages to Markdown format. Useful for custom download implementations.

import { messagesToMarkdown } from "@/components/ai-elements/conversation";

const markdown = messagesToMarkdown(messages);

// With custom formatter
const customMarkdown = messagesToMarkdown(
  messages,
  (msg, i) =>
    `[${msg.role}]: ${msg.parts
      .filter((p) => p.type === "text")
      .map((p) => p.text)
      .join("")}`
);