feature: Context-Aware Documentation Assistant for TechDocs

[dfl-aeb]

🔖 Feature description

We would like to propose adding a context-aware documentation assistant to the GenAI plugin that appears as a floating action button on TechDocs pages.

We have developed a working prototype and would love to hear if you are interested in including this feature in the main plugin. If so, we are happy to contribute it back to the community, provide demos, share detailed code, or adapt the implementation based on your feedback!

🎤 Context

Users reading lengthy TechDocs often struggle to find specific information within documents. While the existing backstageTechDocsSearch tool provides broad search capabilities, there's no way to ask contextual questions about the specific document currently being viewed.

✌️ Possible Implementation

Proposed Solution

A floating chat assistant that:

• Appears only on TechDocs pages (/docs/** routes)
• Understands which document the user is currently viewing
• Provides contextual answers specific to that documentation
• Uses a specialized agent optimized for documentation questions

User Experience

1. User opens any TechDocs page
2. A floating chat button appears in the bottom-right corner
3. User clicks to open a compact chat interface
4. User asks questions like "How do I configure authentication?"
5. Assistant searches within the current document context first, then broadens search if needed
6. Receives contextual answers with references to specific sections

This would significantly improve documentation discoverability and reduce the cognitive load of searching through long technical documents.

[niallthomson]

Hi @dfl-aeb thanks for raising this issue and showing off what you've been working on.

Having a more contextual chat interface is something I've considered for a while and have just never got around to digging in to it. Your use-case makes sense and I think if designed properly this could also be used, for example, to add contextual chat to any entity in the Backstage catalog in a similar way to the Roadie AI plugin.

Do you think expanding it this way would increase the effort significantly?