docs

ChatKit Documentation

Complete documentation for building AI-powered chat applications with FinClip ChatKit.

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🚀 Quick Navigation

Choose Your Language

Swift Developer? → Swift Quick Start → Swift Developer Guide

Objective-C Developer? → Objective-C Quick Start → Objective-C Developer Guide

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📚 Documentation Structure

Overview & Getting Started

• Overview - Complete introduction to ChatKit: features, protocols, and capabilities
• Getting Started Guide - Language-specific quick starts (Swift & Objective-C)
• Quick Start Guide - Minimal skeleton templates (5 minutes)

Core Guides

Swift

• Swift Developer Guide - Comprehensive Swift guide from beginner to expert
  • Basic usage
  • Multiple conversations
  • Conversation list UI
  • Advanced patterns

Objective-C

• Objective-C Developer Guide - Complete Objective-C guide
  • Basic usage
  • Multiple conversations
  • Conversation list UI
  • API reference

Shared Concepts

• Configuration Guide - Complete configuration reference for all ChatKit options
• API Levels Guide - Understanding high-level vs low-level APIs
• Component Embedding Guide - Embedding components in various scenarios (Swift & Objective-C examples)
• Context Providers Guide - Implementing custom context providers (Swift & Objective-C)
• Prompt Starters Guide - Creating and configuring prompt starters (Swift & Objective-C)
• Provider Customization - Context, ASR, and title generation providers

Integration & Setup

• Installation Guide - Package manager setup (SPM, CocoaPods)
• Build Tooling Guide - Makefile, XcodeGen, reproducible builds
• Remote Dependencies - Working with remote binary dependencies

Customization

• UI Customization - Styling and theming
• Provider Mechanisms - Customize framework behavior

Reference

• Architecture Overview - Framework structure and design
• Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions

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🎯 Learning Paths

For Swift Developers

0. Optional: Learn About ChatKit → Overview - Understand features, protocols, and capabilities

1. Start Here: Swift Quick Start

   • 5-minute setup
   • Minimal code example

2. Learn Basics: Swift Developer Guide - Part 1

   • Detailed walkthrough
   • Key concepts

3. Build Features: Swift Developer Guide - Parts 2 & 3

   • Multiple conversations
   • Conversation history

4. Customize: Component Embedding | Providers

5. Advanced: API Levels | Architecture

For Objective-C Developers

0. Optional: Learn About ChatKit → Overview - Understand features, protocols, and capabilities

1. Start Here: Objective-C Quick Start

   • 5-minute setup
   • Minimal code example

2. Learn Basics: Objective-C Developer Guide - Basic Usage

   • Coordinator setup
   • Creating conversations
   • Showing chat UI

3. Build Features: Objective-C Developer Guide - Multiple Conversations

   • Conversation manager
   • Observing updates
   • Resuming conversations

4. Customize: Component Embedding | Provider Customization

5. Reference: Objective-C API Reference

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📖 Use Case Navigation

I want to...

Learn about ChatKit and its features

• Overview - Complete introduction: features, protocols, capabilities, and what you can build

Build a simple chat app

• Swift: Quick Start → Swift Guide
• Objective-C: Quick Start → Objective-C Guide

Add multiple conversations

• Swift: Developer Guide - Part 2
• Objective-C: Objective-C Guide - Multiple Conversations

Show conversation history

• Swift: Developer Guide - Part 3
• Objective-C: Objective-C Guide - Conversation List UI

Embed chat in a drawer

• Component Embedding - Drawer (Swift & Objective-C examples)

Present chat as a sheet

• Component Embedding - Sheet (Swift & Objective-C examples)

Use Objective-C

• Objective-C Quick Start
• Objective-C Developer Guide
• SimpleObjC Demo

Customize conversation titles

• Swift: API Levels - Title Providers
• Objective-C: Objective-C Guide - Title Providers

Add location context or custom context providers

• Swift & Objective-C: Context Providers Guide - Complete guide with examples
• Swift: API Levels - Context Providers
• Objective-C: Objective-C Guide - Context Providers

Configure chat UI behavior and appearance

• Swift & Objective-C: Configuration Guide - Complete configuration reference
• Status banner, welcome messages, prompt starters, tools, context providers
• Theme customization, performance tuning, debug settings

Set up automated builds

• Build Tooling Guide

Troubleshoot issues

• Troubleshooting Guide

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🧪 Example Apps

Simple (Swift)

Location: demo-apps/iOS/Simple/

What it demonstrates:

• High-level APIs
• Drawer-based navigation
• Component embedding
• Standard build tooling

Run it:

cd demo-apps/iOS/Simple
make run

See: Simple README

SimpleObjC (Objective-C)

Location: demo-apps/iOS/SimpleObjC/

What it demonstrates:

• Objective-C high-level APIs
• Navigation-based flow
• Remote dependency usage

Run it:

cd demo-apps/iOS/SimpleObjC
make run

See: SimpleObjC README

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📁 Documentation Structure

docs/
├── README.md (this file)           # Main documentation index
├── overview.md                     # High-level overview and introduction
│
├── Getting Started
│   ├── getting-started.md          # Detailed walkthrough (Swift & Objective-C)
│   └── quick-start.md              # Minimal skeleton templates (5 minutes)
│
├── guides/                         # Language-specific comprehensive guides
│   ├── developer-guide.md          # Swift comprehensive guide
│   ├── developer-guide.zh.md       # Swift guide (Chinese)
│   ├── objective-c-guide.md        # Objective-C comprehensive guide
│   ├── objective-c-guide.zh.md     # Objective-C guide (Chinese)
│   ├── configuration.md            # Configuration guide (Swift & Objective-C)
│   ├── configuration.zh.md         # Configuration guide (Chinese)
│   ├── context-providers.md        # Context providers guide (Swift & Objective-C)
│   ├── context-providers.zh.md     # Context providers guide (Chinese)
│   ├── prompt-starters.md          # Prompt starters guide (Swift & Objective-C)
│   └── prompt-starters.zh.md       # Prompt starters guide (Chinese)
│
├── Core Concepts                   # Shared concepts (Swift & Objective-C)
│   ├── api-levels.md               # High-level vs low-level APIs
│   ├── api-levels.zh.md            # API levels (Chinese)
│   ├── component-embedding.md      # Component usage scenarios
│   └── component-embedding.zh.md   # Component embedding (Chinese)
│
├── Integration & Setup
│   ├── integration-guide.md        # Package managers, installation
│   ├── integration-guide.zh.md     # Integration guide (Chinese)
│   ├── build-tooling.md             # Makefile, XcodeGen
│   ├── build-tooling.zh.md         # Build tooling (Chinese)
│   ├── remote-dependencies.md      # Remote binary dependencies
│   ├── remote-dependencies.zh.md  # Remote dependencies (Chinese)
│   └── running-demos.md            # Running demo applications
│
├── Customization
│   └── how-to/
│       ├── customize-ui.md         # UI customization
│       └── customize-ui.zh.md      # UI customization (Chinese)
│
├── Reference
│   ├── architecture/
│   │   ├── overview.md             # Framework architecture
│   │   └── overview.zh.md          # Architecture (Chinese)
│   └── troubleshooting.md          # Common issues and solutions
│
└── archive/                        # Historical/maintainer documentation
    ├── summaries/                  # Historical summaries
    ├── llmtxt/                     # Legacy content
    ├── STRUCTURE.md                # Documentation structure (for maintainers)
    ├── RESTRUCTURING_SUMMARY.md    # Restructuring summary (for maintainers)
    └── TRANSLATION_STATUS.zh.md    # Translation status (for maintainers)

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🔑 Key Concepts

High-Level APIs (Recommended)

Ready-made components that handle most use cases:

• ChatKitCoordinator / CKTChatKitCoordinator - Runtime lifecycle
• ChatKitConversationViewController - Chat UI (Swift & Objective-C)
• ChatKitConversationListViewController - List UI (Swift & Objective-C)

See: API Levels Guide

Low-Level APIs (Advanced)

Direct access for maximum flexibility:

• Direct runtime access
• Manual UI binding
• Custom implementations

See: API Levels Guide

Provider Mechanism

Customize framework behavior:

• Context providers - Attach location, calendar, notes, etc.
• ASR providers - Custom speech recognition
• Title generation providers - Custom conversation titles

See: Context Providers Guide | API Levels Guide

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🌐 Language Support

Swift

• ✅ Full API support
• ✅ Async/await patterns
• ✅ Combine publishers
• ✅ Type-safe APIs

Guides: Swift Developer Guide

Objective-C

• ✅ Full API support via wrappers
• ✅ Delegate-based patterns
• ✅ Completion handlers
• ✅ CKT-prefixed classes

Guides: Objective-C Developer Guide

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📋 Version Information

This documentation is for ChatKit 0.7.4.

All examples and code snippets use APIs available in version 0.7.4 or later.

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🤝 Contributing

Found an issue or want to improve the documentation?

1. Open an issue describing the problem or improvement
2. Submit a pull request with your changes
3. Follow the existing documentation style and structure

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🆘 Support

• Documentation Issues: GitHub Issues
• Questions: GitHub Discussions
• Examples: demo-apps/iOS/ directory

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🎓 What You'll Learn

From the examples and documentation:

• ✅ High-level APIs for rapid development (Swift & Objective-C)
• ✅ Safe runtime lifecycle management
• ✅ Ready-made UI components
• ✅ Component embedding in various containers
• ✅ Managing multiple conversations
• ✅ Provider mechanisms (context, ASR, title generation)
• ✅ Reproducible builds with Makefile and XcodeGen
• ✅ Best practices and common pitfalls

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Ready to build?

• Swift Developer? → Swift Quick Start
• Objective-C Developer? → Objective-C Quick Start

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Made with ❤️ by the FinClip team