Question for conversation_starters in api plugin

Question

Hi,

I'm creating the copilot agent, and I noticed that the conversation_starters property is available in both agent manifest and api-plugin manifest.

While I can see the conversation_starters offered in my agent manifest listed as the suggestion cards when I open my agent, I don't know where to see those defined in the api plugin manifest.

I want to know what's the difference of these two? And where would the conversation_starters in api-plugin manifest shown to the user?

Here is my manifest files for reference:

appPackage/my-agent.json

{
  "$schema": "https://aka.ms/json-schemas/copilot/declarative-agent/v1.0/schema.json",
  "version": "v1.0",
  "name": "my agent",
  "description": "Declarative agent",
  "instructions": "$[file('instructions.txt')]",
  "actions": [
    {
      "id": "my-api",
      "file": "my-api-plugin.json"
    }
  ],
  "conversation_starters": [
    {
      "title": "show me help",
      "text": "help of using this app"
    },
    {
      "title": "suggestions",
      "text": "what I can do with this?"
    }
  ]
}

appPackage/my-api-plugin.json

{
  "$schema": "https://aka.ms/json-schemas/copilot/plugin/v2.1/schema.json",
  "schema_version": "v2.1",
  "name_for_human": "My Agent",
  "description_for_human": "MYAPI",
  "description_for_model": "$[file('description-for-model.txt')]",
  "namespace": "pocdeclarativecopilot",
  "functions": [
    ...
  ],
  "runtimes": [
    ...
  ],
  "capabilities": {
    "localization": {},
    "conversation_starters": [
      {
        "text": "Show me info for user A"
      },
      {
        "text": "Show me user with status online"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Answer 1

Hello @ye lan,
The conversation_starters property in both the agent manifest and the API plugin manifest serves to provide predefined prompts or suggestions to the user. However, they are used in slightly different contexts and are displayed differently within the Copilot experience.

Differences Between conversation_starters in Agent Manifest and API Plugin Manifest

Agent Manifest (my-agent.json):

• The conversation_starters defined in the agent manifest are shown as suggestion cards when the user opens the agent.
  • These are the initial prompts that guide the user on how to interact with the agent and what kind of queries they can make.
  API Plugin Manifest (my-api-plugin.json):

  - The `conversation_starters` defined in the API plugin manifest are intended to provide specific prompts related to the capabilities of the API plugin.
  
     - These prompts are not directly shown as suggestion cards when the user opens the agent but can be used by the agent to generate responses or guide the conversation based on the API plugin's capabilities.
  

Where conversation_starters in API Plugin Manifest Are Shown?

The conversation_starters in the API plugin manifest are typically used internally by the agent to enhance the conversation flow. They might not be directly visible to the user as suggestion cards but can be used by the agent to provide contextually relevant responses or guide the user based on the API plugin's functionality.