Setup

Get up and running with your first AI conversation in minutes.

Prerequisites

Make sure you've completed the installation:

• Package installed via Composer
• Migrations run
• (Optional) Configuration published

Your First Conversation

1. Add the Trait

Add the HasAIConversations trait to any model that should have conversations:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use ElliottLawson\Converse\Traits\HasAIConversations;

class User extends Model
{
    use HasAIConversations;
}

2. Start a Conversation

$user = User::find(1);

// Start a new conversation
$conversation = $user->startConversation([
    'title' => 'My First AI Chat'
]);

3. Add Messages

// Set the AI's behavior
$conversation->addSystemMessage('You are a helpful assistant.');

// Add a user question
$conversation->addUserMessage('What is Laravel?');

// Add the AI's response
$conversation->addAssistantMessage(
    'Laravel is a PHP web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. 
    It provides tools for routing, sessions, caching, and more.'
);

The Fluent API

Chain methods for a more natural flow:

$conversation = $user->startConversation(['title' => 'Laravel Help'])
    ->addSystemMessage('You are a Laravel expert.')
    ->addUserMessage('How do I create a middleware?')
    ->addAssistantMessage('To create middleware: `php artisan make:middleware MyMiddleware`')
    ->addUserMessage('Where does it go?')
    ->addAssistantMessage('Middleware files are stored in `app/Http/Middleware/`');

Continuing Conversations

Resume any conversation later:

// Find an existing conversation
$conversation = $user->conversations()->find($conversationId);

// Or use the helper method
$conversation = $user->continueConversation($conversationId);

// Add more messages
$conversation->addUserMessage('Thanks! How do I register it?');

Integrating with AI Providers

Here's a real example using OpenAI:

use OpenAI\Laravel\Facades\OpenAI;

// Get user input
$userMessage = $request->input('message');

// Add to conversation
$conversation->addUserMessage($userMessage);

// Prepare context for AI
$messages = $conversation->messages->map(fn($msg) => [
    'role' => $msg->role->value,
    'content' => $msg->content
])->toArray();

// Get AI response
$response = OpenAI::chat()->create([
    'model' => 'gpt-4',
    'messages' => $messages,
]);

// Store the response
$conversation->addAssistantMessage($response->choices[0]->message->content);

What's Next?

Now that you've created your first conversation, explore:

• Message Types - Learn about all message types and when to use them
• Conversations - Deep dive into conversation management
• Streaming - Handle real-time streaming responses
• Events - React to conversation changes