io.Assist — User Guide

Audience: Users and UI developers working with applications that embed io.Assist.

What Is io.Assist?

io.Assist is an AI assistant that lives inside your application. It connects to an AI agent server and gives you a chat interface where you can ask questions, run tasks, and interact with tools — all without leaving the app you're already working in.

The Chat Interface

When io.Assist loads, you see a chat window where you can type messages to the AI agent. The agent responds with formatted text, code blocks, and sometimes interactive content.

Key interactions:

• Send a message — type in the input area and press Enter
• New line — press Shift + Enter to add a line break without sending
• Browse message history — press Shift + Up / Shift + Down to cycle through your previous messages
• Copy a response — click the copy button on any assistant message
• Regenerate — click the reload button on a response to ask the agent to try again

Conversation Threads

Every conversation is saved as a thread. You can:

• Start a new thread — click the home button to begin a fresh conversation
• Browse past threads — open the thread history panel to see all previous conversations
• Resume a thread — click any past thread to continue where you left off
• Rename a thread — give a thread a meaningful name for easy reference
• Delete a thread — remove threads you no longer need

Threads are scoped to your user identity — you only see your own conversations.

Prompt Library

If your application provides a prompt library, you can browse pre-written prompts organized by category instead of typing from scratch.

How to use prompts:

1. Open the prompt library from the input action bar
2. Browse categories or search by name
3. Click a prompt to apply it as your message
4. Edit the prompt text if needed, then send

Favorites: Star any prompt to add it to your favorites. Favorited prompts appear on the home screen for quick access. Your favorites are remembered across sessions.

Tools

The AI agent has access to tools — capabilities provided by MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. These can include searching for applications, querying data, launching workspaces, and more.

When the agent uses a tool, you'll see a tool trace in the chat showing:

• Which tool was called
• What arguments were passed
• The result returned

You can expand or collapse tool traces to see the details.

Tool management: Open the tools panel to see all available tools. You can enable or disable individual tools — disabled tools won't be used by the agent.

MCP Apps

Some tools go beyond text — they can display interactive HTML panels directly in the chat or in a separate workspace window. These are called MCP Apps.

How MCP Apps appear

• Inline — the app renders inside the chat, below the tool message. This is the default when workspaces are not available.
• Workspace — the app opens as a separate window alongside the chat. Multiple apps can be open at the same time.

Interacting with MCP Apps

MCP Apps are fully interactive — they can show charts, forms, data tables, and more. While the AI is generating a response, some app controls may be temporarily disabled to prevent conflicts.

Thread switching

When you switch to a different conversation thread:

• All currently open MCP Apps close
• If the new thread has apps that haven't finished their work, they reopen automatically
• Apps that already completed are not reopened

Duplicate instances

If the AI calls the same tool again while an instance is already open (workspace mode), you'll see a dialog with three options:

| Option | What happens | |--------|-------------| | Replace Oldest | Closes the oldest instance and opens the new one in its place | | Replace All | Closes all instances of that tool, opens one new one | | New Instance | Keeps everything open and adds a new window |

Sampling Requests

Occasionally, an MCP server may ask the application for permission to generate a response on your behalf. When this happens, io.Assist shows a confirmation dialog:

• Continue — allows the operation to proceed
• Cancel — declines the request

This only appears when an MCP server explicitly makes a sampling request. Most conversations don't trigger this.

Elicitation Requests

An MCP server may also ask you for input — for example, to confirm a value or fill in a form field. When this happens, io.Assist presents the request with options to accept or decline.

Working Context

When configured by your application, io.Assist can read live data from your current workspace — such as which client you're viewing, which portfolio is selected, or other contextual information. This data is sent to the AI agent with every message, so the agent knows what you're working on without you having to explain it.

Working context is automatic once configured — you don't need to do anything special. A working context button in the header lets you inspect what context is currently being sent.

Theme

io.Assist automatically matches the theme of your io.Connect environment. If you switch between light and dark mode in io.Connect, io.Assist follows.

Keyboard Shortcuts

| Shortcut | Action | |----------|--------| | Enter | Send message | | Shift + Enter | New line | | Shift + Up | Previous message from history | | Shift + Down | Next message from history |

Troubleshooting

io.Assist shows a loading spinner that doesn't resolve

• The agent server may be unreachable. Check that the server is running and accessible from your network.

"Failed to start core services" error

• The io.Connect platform may have failed to initialize. Refresh the page. If the issue persists, check your browser console for details.

Agent doesn't respond

• Verify the agent server is running and has at least one agent configured.
• Check network connectivity and any authentication requirements.

Tools are missing

• MCP servers may not be connected. Check the tools panel to see what's available.
• If you expect MCP Apps but don't see them, the application may not have MCP Apps configured.