Chat Client Provider

The IChatClientProvider interface is the bridge between the AI conversation service and your AI backend.

Default Behavior

By default, a built-in InjectedChatClientProvider is registered that resolves IChatClient from your DI container. For most apps, simply register an IChatClient and you’re done:

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

builder.Services.AddShinyAiConversation(opts =>
{
    // No need to call SetChatClientProvider — the default resolves IChatClient from DI
});

If no IChatClient is registered and no custom provider is set, an InvalidOperationException is thrown at runtime.

Structured output support

Providers also declare how their endpoint can be asked for a structured turn. StructuredOutputMode is a default interface member, so you only override it when the default is wrong for your endpoint:

public class MyChatClientProvider : IChatClientProvider
{
    public Task<IChatClient> GetChatClient(CancellationToken cancelToken = default) => ...;

    public AiStructuredOutputMode StructuredOutputMode => AiStructuredOutputMode.Json;
}

Mode	Request	Use for
JsonSchema (default)	Native schema-constrained response format	OpenAI and compatible endpoints
Json	JSON response format, shape described in the prompt	GitHub Copilot, models without schema support
Prompt	Shape in the prompt only, no format constraint	Endpoints that reject both of the above
None	Plain text — opts out entirely	Providers that can’t do any of it

Both GitHub Copilot providers default to Json because the Copilot proxy passes json_schema support through per-model. A wrong value degrades rather than breaks — the service retries unstructured and falls back to plain text.

Built-in Providers

Two ready-made providers are available as separate NuGet packages so you don’t have to implement IChatClientProvider yourself.

Shiny.AiConversation.OpenAi

A static provider for any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Ollama, etc.). Creates the client once at startup with logging and function invocation middleware.

dotnet add package Shiny.AiConversation.OpenAi

builder.Services.AddShinyAiConversation(opts =>
{
    opts.AddStaticOpenAIChatClient(
        apiToken: "your-api-key",
        endpointUri: "https://api.openai.com/v1",
        modelName: "gpt-4o"
    );
});

Works great for Blazor WASM, server apps, or any MAUI app where you have an API key up front.

Shiny.AiConversation.Maui.GithubCopilot

A MAUI-specific provider that authenticates via the GitHub OAuth device code flow and uses the Copilot API for chat completions. The entire authentication experience is self-contained:

1. When authentication is needed, a popup appears with the device code
2. The code is automatically copied to the clipboard
3. The user presses OK and a browser opens to GitHub’s verification page
4. The provider polls in the background until the user authorizes
5. The OAuth token is exchanged for a Copilot API token and cached
6. Tokens are persisted in SecureStorage across app restarts

dotnet add package Shiny.AiConversation.Maui.GithubCopilot

builder.Services.AddShinyAiConversation(opts =>
{
    opts.AddGithubCopilotChatClient();
});

No login page, token storage, or event wiring needed — one line of registration handles everything.

Additional API on GitHubCopilotChatClientProvider:

Member	Description
IsAuthenticated	Whether a stored token exists
StartAuthentication(ct)	Manually trigger the device code flow
CancelAuthentication()	Cancel an in-progress auth flow
SignOut()	Clear stored tokens
AccessTokenChanged	Event fired when auth state changes (token or null)

Custom Implementation

For scenarios not covered by the built-in providers, implement IChatClientProvider:

Interface

public interface IChatClientProvider
{
    Task<IChatClient> GetChatClient(CancellationToken cancelToken = default);
}

The service calls GetChatClient() before each chat request, so your implementation can handle token refresh, re-authentication, or client rotation.

Registration

builder.Services.AddShinyAiConversation(opts =>
{
    opts.SetChatClientProvider<MyChatClientProvider>();
});

Example: Ollama (Local)

using Microsoft.Extensions.AI;
using Shiny.AiConversation;

public class OllamaChatClientProvider : IChatClientProvider
{
    public Task<IChatClient> GetChatClient(CancellationToken cancelToken = default)
    {
        var client = new OllamaChatClient(
            new Uri("http://localhost:11434"),
            "llama3.1"
        );
        return Task.FromResult<IChatClient>(client);
    }
}

Authentication Patterns

Pattern	Provider
API key from config	AddStaticOpenAIChatClient() or register IChatClient in DI
GitHub Copilot (device code flow)	AddGithubCopilotChatClient()
Managed identity / custom	Implement IChatClientProvider
Token refresh with caching	Implement IChatClientProvider

Note

All built-in providers handle on-demand authentication — the user isn’t prompted until an AI feature is first used.