Elicitations

Elicitations let the LLM ask the user structured questions mid-conversation. Instead of asking "which city?" as plain text, the AI renders an interactive UI element the user can respond to.

Elicitation is enabled by default. Disable it with ask={false} on the <Fabrik> provider.

Elicitation types

1. Confirm

A yes/no dialog for binary decisions.

{
  "type": "confirm",
  "title": "Delete this file?",
  "message": "This action cannot be undone.",
  "confirmLabel": "Delete",
  "cancelLabel": "Keep"
}

Renders a dialog with two buttons. The response is true or false.

2. Choice

A single-select picker from a list of options.

{
  "type": "choice",
  "title": "Select a language",
  "options": [
    { "value": "ts", "label": "TypeScript", "description": "Recommended" },
    { "value": "js", "label": "JavaScript" },
    { "value": "py", "label": "Python" }
  ]
}

The response is the value string of the selected option.

3. Multi-choice

A multi-select picker with optional min/max constraints.

{
  "type": "multi_choice",
  "title": "Select toppings",
  "options": [
    { "value": "cheese", "label": "Cheese" },
    { "value": "pepperoni", "label": "Pepperoni" },
    { "value": "mushrooms", "label": "Mushrooms" }
  ],
  "min": 1,
  "max": 3
}

The response is an array of selected value strings.

4. Text input

A free-form text field for open-ended input.

{
  "type": "text",
  "title": "Enter your API key",
  "message": "We need this to connect to your account.",
  "placeholder": "sk-..."
}

The response is the entered string.

5. Permission

A permission request for accessing a resource.

{
  "type": "permission",
  "title": "Access your calendar",
  "message": "This lets me check your availability.",
  "resource": "google-calendar"
}

The response is true (granted) or false (denied).

How it works

The LLM calls the built-in __ask tool with the elicitation config.
Fabrik emits an ask stream event and pauses the stream.
The <Chat> component renders the appropriate UI (dialog, picker, etc.).
The user responds.
respond(askId, value) sends the answer back and the stream resumes.

Responding programmatically

If you build custom UI, use the respond function from useChat:

components/custom-elicitation.tsx

"use client"
import { useChat } from "@fabrik-sdk/ui/react"

export function CustomElicitation({ askId }: { askId: string }) {
  const { respond } = useChat()

  return (
    <button onClick={() => respond(askId, true)}>
      Confirm
    </button>
  )
}

TypeScript types

All elicitation configs are type-safe:

import type {
  AskConfig,
  ConfirmAsk,
  ChoiceAsk,
  MultiChoiceAsk,
  TextAsk,
  PermissionAsk,
  AskOption,
} from "@fabrik-sdk/ui"

AskConfig is a discriminated union — switch on config.type to narrow the type.

Elicitations

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