Problem
People may miss an AI feature if they can’t find it or tell what it does. It needs to fit into the app without getting in the way of tools they already use.
Solution
Put the AI button near the content it works on. Show a rewrite option when someone selects text. Put a document summary button in the document header. This placement helps people understand what the button does.
Label the button with an action, such as “Rewrite” or “Summarize.” A sparkle icon alone doesn’t explain what will happen. If there’s no room for a label, provide a tooltip and a clear name for screen readers.
Choose when the button appears based on the task. An option that appears when someone selects text keeps the toolbar clear. A permanent button is easier to find when people need the assistant throughout the app.
Show suggestions when they’re relevant to what someone is doing. Let people dismiss them.
Use when
AI helps people complete a task within an existing app.
Don’t use when
The assistant is the product. There the entry point is the whole screen, and a sparkle is decoration on a surface that’s nothing to compete with.
Trade-offs
Buttons that appear only in certain situations save space, but people may miss them. A permanent button is easier to find but takes up toolbar space even when it isn’t needed. Automatic suggestions can help people discover a feature, but they can also interrupt their work.
Checklist
- Is the entry point next to the object it acts on?
- Does it carry a verb, or only an icon?
- What’s its accessible name, and does it describe the action?
- Does it appear unprompted, and on what signal?
- Can it be dismissed, and does the dismissal stick?
- What permanent space does it occupy, and what did that space cost?
- Is there a keyboard path for people who never use the button?
- Does it appear in contexts where the assistant cannot help?
- Does it look the same across the product when it does different things?
- Can someone who does not want it turn it off?
Compare
Notion puts the entry at the cursor and on selection rather than in the chrome, so invocation happens where the writing is and no toolbar slot is spent. Figma attaches its equivalent to the canvas selection, where the object is a frame and the available actions follow from what is selected. Microsoft Copilot takes the opposite approach with a persistent ribbon presence across applications, buying consistency and constant visibility at the price of a permanent slot in the most contested toolbar in software. Raycast removes the surface entirely and makes the entry point a global keystroke. For anyone who learns it that’s the cheapest invocation there is. For everyone else it may as well not exist.
Related
Inline assist lets people work with AI directly in their content. An assistant sidebar provides space for a longer conversation. A command menu gives people a keyboard shortcut to AI actions.
Prompt starters help people decide what to ask after opening the assistant. Ghost text shows suggestions as they type, without requiring them to open it.