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This widget is and is subject to change in minor versions.
When the agent searches your index, the chat widget renders the results in a built-in carousel. You can customize it at three levels, from the least to the most involved:
  1. Restyle the default carousel with CSS.
  2. Change the markup of each result card with the item template.
  3. Replace the entire carousel layout by overriding the search tool.
If the default structure works and you only want a different look, target the carousel’s CSS classes. The search-results carousel uses classes prefixed with ais-ChatToolSearchIndexCarousel (for example, ais-ChatToolSearchIndexCarouselHeader). See the styling guide for the full approach.

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Customize each result card

Use the item template to change what each card in the carousel looks like. The same template is used by both the search-results and recommendations carousels. It receives a single record:
JavaScript
import algoliasearch from "algoliasearch/lite";
import instantsearch from "instantsearch.js";
import { chat } from "instantsearch.js/es/widgets";

const search = instantsearch({
  indexName: "instant_search",
  searchClient: algoliasearch("YourApplicationID", "YourSearchOnlyAPIKey"),
});

search.addWidgets([
  chat({
    container: "#chat",
    agentId: "YOUR_AGENT_ID",
    templates: {
      item(hit, { html, components }) {
        return html`
          <article class="product-card">
            <img src="${hit.image}" alt="${hit.name}" />
            <h3>${components.Highlight({ attribute: "name", hit })}</h3>
            <span class="product-card-price">$${hit.price}</span>
          </article>
        `;
      },
    },
  }),
]);

search.start();
For most stores, this is enough: you swap in your own product-card markup and the carousel behavior (header, scroll buttons, “View all”) stays as-is. To change more than the cards—such as the header, the scroll controls, or the wrapper—override the tool that renders the carousel. Import the tool type and use it as a key in the tools option:
  • SearchIndexToolType renders the search-results carousel.
  • RecommendToolType renders the recommendations carousel.
Both are exported from instantsearch.js/es/widgets/chat/chat. Whatever you pass under a tool key fully replaces the built-in rendering for that tool.
JavaScript
import { chat, SearchIndexToolType } from "instantsearch.js/es/widgets/chat/chat";

search.addWidgets([
  chat({
    container: "#chat",
    agentId: "YOUR_AGENT_ID",
    tools: {
      [SearchIndexToolType]: {
        templates: {
          layout({ message, sendEvent }, { html }) {
            const items = message.output?.hits || [];

            if (items.length === 0) {
              return html`<p>No results found.</p>`;
            }

            return html`
              <div class="MyCarousel">
                <div class="MyCarousel-header">
                  ${items.length} of ${message.output?.nbHits} results
                </div>
                <div class="MyCarousel-track">
                  ${items.map(
                    (item) => html`
                      <article
                        class="MyCarousel-item"
                        onClick=${() =>
                          sendEvent("click", item, "Product clicked from chat")}
                      >
                        <img src="${item.image}" alt="${item.name}" />
                        <h3>${item.name}</h3>
                        <span>$${item.price}</span>
                      </article>
                    `,
                  )}
                </div>
              </div>
            `;
          },
        },
      },
    },
  }),
]);
The layout template receives:
  • message. The tool call message. The result is on message.output (hits, nbHits, queryID); the agent’s parameters are on message.input.
  • sendEvent. Sends click or conversion events for the result, using the insights middleware.
  • applyFilters and onClose. Apply filters to the InstantSearch UI state, or dismiss the tool’s UI.
Overriding a tool changes only how the result is displayed in the chat. The tool itself—its name, when the agent calls it, and its parameters—is configured on the agent in the Agent Studio dashboard.
Last modified on June 18, 2026