FEATURE: Examples support for personas. (#1334)

Examples simulate previous interactions with an LLM and come
right after the system prompt. This helps grounding the model and
producing better responses.

Author: romanrizzi

app/controllers/discourse_ai/admin/ai_personas_controller.rb

@@ -225,6 +225,10 @@ def ai_persona_params
           permitted[:response_format] = permit_response_format(response_format)
         end
 
+        if examples = params.dig(:ai_persona, :examples)
+          permitted[:examples] = permit_examples(examples)
+        end
+
         permitted
       end
 
@@ -251,6 +255,12 @@ def permit_response_format(response_format)
           end
         end
       end
+
+      def permit_examples(examples)
+        return [] if !examples.is_a?(Array)
+
+        examples.map { |example_arr| example_arr.take(2).map(&:to_s) }
+      end
     end
   end
 end

app/models/ai_persona.rb

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ class AiPersona < ActiveRecord::Base
   validate :system_persona_unchangeable, on: :update, if: :system
   validate :chat_preconditions
   validate :allowed_seeded_model, if: :default_llm_id
+  validate :well_formated_examples
   validates :max_context_posts, numericality: { greater_than: 0 }, allow_nil: true
   # leaves some room for growth but sets a maximum to avoid memory issues
   # we may want to revisit this in the future
@@ -265,6 +266,7 @@ def class_instance
       define_method(:top_p) { @ai_persona&.top_p }
       define_method(:system_prompt) { @ai_persona&.system_prompt || "You are a helpful bot." }
       define_method(:uploads) { @ai_persona&.uploads }
+      define_method(:examples) { @ai_persona&.examples }
     end
   end
 
@@ -343,6 +345,11 @@ def system_persona_unchangeable
       new_format = response_format_change[1].map { |f| f["key"] }.to_set
 
       errors.add(:base, error_msg) if old_format != new_format
+    elsif examples_changed?
+      old_examples = examples_change[0].flatten.to_set
+      new_examples = examples_change[1].flatten.to_set
+
+      errors.add(:base, error_msg) if old_examples != new_examples
     end
   end
 
@@ -363,6 +370,17 @@ def allowed_seeded_model
 
     errors.add(:default_llm, I18n.t("discourse_ai.llm.configuration.invalid_seeded_model"))
   end
+
+  def well_formated_examples
+    return if examples.blank?
+
+    if examples.is_a?(Array) &&
+         examples.all? { |e| e.is_a?(Array) && e.length == 2 && e.all?(&:present?) }
+      return
+    end
+
+    errors.add(:examples, I18n.t("discourse_ai.personas.malformed_examples"))
+  end
 end
 
 # == Schema Information
@@ -401,6 +419,7 @@ def allowed_seeded_model
 #  default_llm_id               :bigint
 #  question_consolidator_llm_id :bigint
 #  response_format              :jsonb
+#  examples                     :jsonb
 #
 # Indexes
 #

app/serializers/localized_ai_persona_serializer.rb

@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ class LocalizedAiPersonaSerializer < ApplicationSerializer
              :allow_topic_mentions,
              :allow_personal_messages,
              :force_default_llm,
-             :response_format
+             :response_format,
+             :examples
 
   has_one :user, serializer: BasicUserSerializer, embed: :object
   has_many :rag_uploads, serializer: UploadSerializer, embed: :object

assets/javascripts/discourse/admin/models/ai-persona.js

@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ const CREATE_ATTRIBUTES = [
   "allow_chat_channel_mentions",
   "allow_chat_direct_messages",
   "response_format",
+  "examples",
 ];
 
 const SYSTEM_ATTRIBUTES = [
@@ -61,7 +62,6 @@ const SYSTEM_ATTRIBUTES = [
   "allow_topic_mentions",
   "allow_chat_channel_mentions",
   "allow_chat_direct_messages",
-  "response_format",
 ];
 
 export default class AiPersona extends RestModel {
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ export default class AiPersona extends RestModel {
     this.populateTools(attrs);
     attrs.forced_tool_count = this.forced_tool_count || -1;
     attrs.response_format = attrs.response_format || [];
+    attrs.examples = attrs.examples || [];
 
     return attrs;
   }

assets/javascripts/discourse/components/ai-persona-editor.gjs

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import AdminUser from "admin/models/admin-user";
 import GroupChooser from "select-kit/components/group-chooser";
 import AiPersonaResponseFormatEditor from "../components/modal/ai-persona-response-format-editor";
 import AiLlmSelector from "./ai-llm-selector";
+import AiPersonaCollapsableExample from "./ai-persona-example";
 import AiPersonaToolOptions from "./ai-persona-tool-options";
 import AiToolSelector from "./ai-tool-selector";
 import RagOptionsFk from "./rag-options-fk";
@@ -230,6 +231,12 @@ export default class PersonaEditor extends Component {
     return this.allTools.filter((tool) => tools.includes(tool.id));
   }
 
+  @action
+  addExamplesPair(form, data) {
+    const newExamples = [...data.examples, ["", ""]];
+    form.set("examples", newExamples);
+  }
+
   mapToolOptions(currentOptions, toolNames) {
     const updatedOptions = Object.assign({}, currentOptions);
 
@@ -422,6 +429,32 @@ export default class PersonaEditor extends Component {
           </form.Field>
         {{/unless}}
 
+        <form.Section
+          @title={{i18n "discourse_ai.ai_persona.examples.title"}}
+          @subtitle={{i18n "discourse_ai.ai_persona.examples.examples_help"}}
+        >
+          {{#unless data.system}}
+            <form.Container>
+              <form.Button
+                @action={{fn this.addExamplesPair form data}}
+                @label="discourse_ai.ai_persona.examples.new"
+                class="ai-persona-editor__new_example"
+              />
+            </form.Container>
+          {{/unless}}
+
+          {{#if (gt data.examples.length 0)}}
+            <form.Collection @name="examples" as |exCollection exCollectionIdx|>
+              <AiPersonaCollapsableExample
+                @examplesCollection={{exCollection}}
+                @exampleNumber={{exCollectionIdx}}
+                @system={{data.system}}
+                @form={{form}}
+              />
+            </form.Collection>
+          {{/if}}
+        </form.Section>
+
         <form.Section @title={{i18n "discourse_ai.ai_persona.ai_tools"}}>
           <form.Field
             @name="tools"

assets/javascripts/discourse/components/ai-persona-example.gjs

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+import Component from "@glimmer/component";
+import { tracked } from "@glimmer/tracking";
+import { concat } from "@ember/helper";
+import { on } from "@ember/modifier";
+import { action } from "@ember/object";
+import { eq } from "truth-helpers";
+import icon from "discourse/helpers/d-icon";
+import { i18n } from "discourse-i18n";
+
+export default class AiPersonaCollapsableExample extends Component {
+  @tracked collapsed = true;
+
+  get caretIcon() {
+    return this.collapsed ? "angle-right" : "angle-down";
+  }
+
+  @action
+  toggleExample() {
+    this.collapsed = !this.collapsed;
+  }
+
+  @action
+  deletePair() {
+    this.collapsed = true;
+    this.args.examplesCollection.remove(this.args.exampleNumber);
+  }
+
+  get exampleTitle() {
+    return i18n("discourse_ai.ai_persona.examples.collapsable_title", {
+      number: this.args.exampleNumber + 1,
+    });
+  }
+
+  <template>
+    <div role="button" {{on "click" this.toggleExample}}>
+      <span>{{icon this.caretIcon}}</span>
+      {{this.exampleTitle}}
+    </div>
+    {{#unless this.collapsed}}
+      <@examplesCollection.Collection as |exPair pairIdx|>
+        <exPair.Field
+          @title={{i18n
+            (concat
+              "discourse_ai.ai_persona.examples."
+              (if (eq pairIdx 0) "user" "model")
+            )
+          }}
+          @validation="required|length:1,100"
+          @disabled={{@system}}
+          as |field|
+        >
+          <field.Textarea />
+        </exPair.Field>
+      </@examplesCollection.Collection>
+
+      {{#unless @system}}
+        <@form.Container>
+          <@form.Button
+            @action={{this.deletePair}}
+            @label="discourse_ai.ai_persona.examples.remove"
+            class="ai-persona-editor__delete_example btn-danger"
+          />
+        </@form.Container>
+      {{/unless}}
+    {{/unless}}
+  </template>
+}

config/locales/client.en.yml

@@ -330,6 +330,14 @@ en:
           modal:
             root_title: "Response structure"
             key_title: "Key"
+        examples:
+          title: Examples
+          examples_help: Simulate previous interactions with the LLM and ground it to produce better result.
+          new: New example
+          remove: Delete example
+          collapsable_title: "Example #%{number}"
+          user: "User message"
+          model: "Model response"
 
         list:
           enabled: "AI Bot?"

config/locales/server.en.yml

@@ -495,6 +495,9 @@ en:
         other: "We couldn't delete this model because %{settings} are using it. Update the settings and try again."
       cannot_edit_builtin: "You can't edit a built-in model."
 
+    personas:
+      malformed_examples: "The given examples have the wrong format."
+
     embeddings:
       delete_failed: "This model is currently in use. Update the `ai embeddings selected model` first."
       cannot_edit_builtin: "You can't edit a built-in model."

db/fixtures/personas/603_ai_personas.rb

@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ def from_setting(setting_name)
 
   persona.response_format = instance.response_format
 
+  persona.examples = instance.examples
+
   persona.system_prompt = instance.system_prompt
   persona.top_p = instance.top_p
   persona.temperature = instance.temperature

db/migrate/20250508154953_add_examples_to_personas.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class AddExamplesToPersonas < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.2]
+  def change
+    add_column :ai_personas, :examples, :jsonb
+  end
+end