AI Services
| Module | CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI |
| Primary feature IDs | CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI, CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI.Chat.Core, CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI.Chat.Api, CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI.ConnectionManagement |
CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI is the Orchard foundation for the AI suite. It wires shared CrestApps.Core AI services into Orchard Core and adds the admin surfaces used by the rest of the AI modules.
What this module adds in Orchard Core
- feature manifests and Orchard dependency wiring
- connection and deployment management UI
- AI profile management and site settings
- recipe, workflow, and admin integration points
- Orchard-aware configuration and startup registration
For the reusable framework pieces underneath those features, see CrestApps.Core AI documentation.
Enable the core AI features
The base AI module exposes multiple Orchard features:
| Feature ID | Purpose |
|---|---|
CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI | Base AI services and shared admin wiring |
CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI.Chat.Core | Profile-driven chat services and session processing |
CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI.Chat.Api | REST endpoints for AI chat and completion access |
CrestApps.OrchardCore.AI.ConnectionManagement | Provider connection management UI |
In a typical Orchard setup:
- Enable AI Services.
- Enable AI Connection Management.
- Enable one or more provider modules such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Inference, or Ollama.
- Add feature modules such as AI Chat, AI Chat Interactions, Documents, Data Sources, MCP, A2A, or Memory as needed.
Where to manage AI in the Orchard admin
Once enabled, the main AI screens are available under Artificial Intelligence:
- Artificial Intelligence -> Profiles
- Artificial Intelligence -> Provider Connections
- Artificial Intelligence -> Templates
Site-wide settings are available under Settings -> Artificial Intelligence.
Common module combinations
| Goal | Enable these areas |
|---|---|
| Manage providers and AI profiles | AI Services + one or more provider modules |
| Add profile-driven chat | AI Services + AI Chat |
| Add ad-hoc chat sessions | AI Services + AI Chat Interactions |
| Add retrieval over uploaded documents | AI Services + Documents |
| Add retrieval over external indexes | AI Services + Data Sources |
| Add model-to-tool connectivity | AI Services + MCP or A2A |
Key admin surfaces
After enabling the relevant features, Orchard Core exposes AI management in the admin UI, including:
- AI settings under Settings -> Artificial Intelligence
- feature enablement under Tools -> Features
- AI connection and deployment editors
- AI profile editors used by chat, agents, and related modules
Configuration sources
The Orchard AI modules support both shell configuration and site settings.
Shell configuration example
Use appsettings.json when you want startup defaults for Orchard-hosted AI behavior:
{
"OrchardCore": {
"CrestApps": {
"AI": {
"DefaultParameters": {
"Temperature": 0,
"MaxOutputTokens": 800
}
}
}
}
This configuration is useful for default completion parameters. Provider-specific connection examples are documented on the individual provider pages.
Site settings
Use Settings -> Artificial Intelligence for tenant-managed options such as:
- usage tracking
- preemptive memory retrieval
- orchestrator defaults
- distributed caching and OpenTelemetry overrides
Creating AI profiles
Once at least one provider is configured, create AI profiles from Artificial Intelligence -> Profiles and attach the capabilities you need for that profile, such as:
- documents
- data sources
- MCP connections
- A2A connections
- memory
- prompt templates
- agent access
- deployment and model selection
AI profile templates and related display drivers extend the profile editor automatically when their corresponding features are enabled.
Recipes, deployment, and workflows
This module also wires Orchard integrations beyond the admin UI:
- recipe steps for AI profiles, profile templates, and deployments
- Orchard deployment plan support
- workflow activities for profile-based and direct AI completion
- workflow events for chat-session extraction, closure, and post-processing
Framework references
The modules in this repository build on CrestApps.Core. Framework-oriented topics such as service APIs, orchestration loops, response handlers, tool registration, and programmatic host composition are documented on the Core site:
Next steps
- Configure one or more AI Providers.
- Choose a UI surface with AI Chat or AI Chat Interactions.
- Add optional capabilities such as Memory, Documents, MCP, or A2A.