Product update: build your own widgets in vragen.ai

A conversation isn't made of text alone. Sometimes you want to show something. A product with an image and its key features, a job opening with the location and number of hours, or an event with the date and a way to sign up. And sometimes you want input from the visitor instead, for example with choice buttons that help clarify a question.

That's what we use widgets for. Widgets let you adapt the interface during a conversation to what someone needs at that moment. Instead of giving every answer the same form, the agent can decide which presentation fits the question best.

That's an important part of a generative website: not deciding in advance which page or interface someone sees, but putting it together during the interaction, based on what the visitor is trying to do.

From development to managing it yourself

Widgets were already possible in vragen.ai. But making them was still technical, so it was usually work for a developer. The new Widget Builder changes that.

You can, for example, add a screenshot of what you want to make. The builder turns it into a first widget, which you can then adjust further yourself. After that, you decide when the agent should use the widget.

For example: when you recommend a product, show a product card with an image, features and a link to the product page. Or: when it isn't clear yet which audience someone is looking for information for, show choice buttons to clarify it.

So the agent doesn't have to show the same widget for every question. It looks at the conversation and decides when a widget is relevant. That way you manage not only what your agent says, but also how the conversation is built up.

From information to action

For us, the next step isn't only about what a widget shows, but also about what you can do with it. From a conversation, a visitor can for example book an appointment, submit a form or add a product to a shopping cart. That shifts a conversation from giving information to actually getting something done.

Those actions are already possible in vragen.ai, but they still need development. So the next step is to make these easier to set up from the dashboard as well.

GenUI Studio is open source

And the best part: GenUI Studio is open source! Want to use it separately from vragen.ai, or contribute to it? Run npx @swis/genui-studio and you're up and running within a minute.

An AI agent doesn't have to force everything through a chat box. Sometimes a product card, a calendar or a form is simply a better answer than text. That's GenUI.