Context

Context is information about your application that helps the AI agent provide relevant, personalized responses.

Why Context Matters

Without context, every conversation starts from scratch. The AI has no idea:

What page the user is on
What they’re trying to accomplish
What data they’re looking at
Their user role or permissions

With context, the AI can:

Answer questions about specific data on the screen
Provide personalized recommendations
Reference the user’s current workflow
Give relevant help for the current task

Example: With vs Without Context

Without Context

User: "What's my balance?"
AI: "I don't have access to your account information."

With Context

User: "What's my balance?"
AI: *sees user.balance from context*
AI: "Your current balance is $1,247.32"

How to Provide Context

The context prop allows you to pass real-time application state as a read-only snapshot to the AI agent:

Static Context (Object)

When context doesn’t change frequently, pass a plain object:

<InAppAI
  agentId="your-agent-id"
  context={{
    page: 'dashboard',
    userName: user.name,
    userRole: user.role,
    plan: 'professional',
  }}
/>

Dynamic Context (Function)

When context changes frequently, use a function to capture fresh state:

<InAppAI
  agentId="your-agent-id"
  context={() => ({
    page: 'dashboard',
    url: window.location.pathname,
    selectedItems: getSelectedItems(),
    timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
  })}
/>

The function is called every time the user sends a message, ensuring the AI gets current information.

Key Point: Context is a read-only state snapshot. The AI can see this data but cannot execute functions or modify state. For actions that change your application, use Tools.

Context vs Tools

Understanding the distinction is important:

Feature	Context	Tools
Purpose	Provide read-only state snapshot	Execute actions and modify state
Passed via	`context` prop	`tools` prop
Type	Object or function returning object	Array of tool definitions with handlers
AI capability	Can read and reference data	Can call functions to take actions
Example	`context={{ userName: 'Alice' }}`	`tools={[{ name: 'addTodo', handler: ... }]}`

Use context when: You want the AI to know about current application state (user info, page data, settings)

Use tools when: You want the AI to take actions (create, update, delete, trigger workflows)

Next Steps

Tools - Learn how to enable the AI to take actions
React Context Guide - Detailed implementation examples with code
Getting Started - Build your first context-aware agent

Documentation