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.

Custom Implementation

For advanced scenarios (on-demand authentication, token refresh, re-authentication on 401), 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: OpenAI

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

public class OpenAiChatClientProvider(IConfiguration config) : IChatClientProvider
{
    public Task<IChatClient> GetChatClient(CancellationToken cancelToken = default)
    {
        var client = new OpenAIClient(config["OpenAI:ApiKey"]);
        return Task.FromResult(
            client.GetChatClient("gpt-4o").AsIChatClient()
        );
    }
}

Example: GitHub Copilot (Device Code Flow)

The sample apps include a full GitHub Copilot implementation that demonstrates:

• OAuth 2.0 device code flow for authentication
• Copilot API token exchange and caching
• Custom HTTP pipeline policy for required headers
• Automatic re-authentication on 401 responses

public class GitHubCopilotChatClientProvider : IChatClientProvider
{
    public async Task<IChatClient> GetChatClient(CancellationToken cancelToken = default)
    {
        var copilotToken = await GetCopilotToken(cancelToken);

        var options = new OpenAIClientOptions
        {
            Endpoint = new Uri("https://api.githubcopilot.com")
        };
        // Copilot API requires editor identification headers
        options.AddPolicy(new CopilotHeadersPolicy(), PipelinePosition.PerCall);

        var client = new OpenAIClient(
            new ApiKeyCredential(copilotToken),
            options
        );

        return client.GetChatClient("gpt-4o").AsIChatClient();
    }
}

See the full implementation in the MAUI sample or Blazor sample.

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

Your provider can handle authentication however you need:

Pattern	When to use
API key from config	Simple server-side apps
OAuth device code flow	Mobile apps needing user login
Managed identity	Azure-hosted services
Token refresh with caching	Any provider with expiring tokens

The service calls GetChatClient() on every request, so you can cache the client and refresh tokens transparently.

Note

If your provider needs to show a login UI (e.g. device code flow), you can use events or navigation to prompt the user. See the GitHub Copilot sample for a complete implementation of this pattern on both MAUI and Blazor.