Getting Started with the KendoReact Conversational UI

Premium

Updated on Mar 4, 2026

This guide provides essential information about using the KendoReact Conversational UI package and Chat component—you will learn how to install the Conversational UI package, add a Chat component to your project, style the component, and activate your license.

After completing this guide, you will be able to reproduce the following example.

Change Theme

Theme

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Install the Component

sh

npm i @progress/kendo-react-conversational-ui

Importing the Component

After installing the package, import the Chat component in your React app. To enable message sending functionality, also import the Message entity.

In the src/App.js file of your React project, import the Chat component from the Conversational UI package:

jsx

// ES2015 module syntax
import { Chat, Message } from "@progress/kendo-react-conversational-ui";

Using the Component

1. Add the required Chat entities: a user, bot, and initialMessages.

tsx

const user = {
    id: 1,
    avatarUrl: 'assets/dropdowns/contacts/RICSU.jpg',
    avatarAltText: 'KendoReact Conversational UI RICSU'
};

const bot = { id: 0 };

const initialMessages: Message[] = [
    {
        id: 1,
        author: bot,
        timestamp: new Date(),
        text: 'Hello, This is the KendoReact Chat component.'
    }
];

2. Set the component messages and configure the updating of the messages collection in the state.

tsx

const App = () => {
  const [messages, setMessages] = React.useState(initialMessages);

  const addNewMessage = (event) => {
    setMessages([...messages, event.message]);
  };
  ...

3. Add the component's markup and set the messages, authorId, and message sending handler. Optionally, configure placeholder text and the height of the Chat component.

tsx

return (
    <div>
        <Chat
            messages={messages}
            authorId={user.id}
            onSendMessage={addNewMessage}
            placeholder={'Type a message...'}
            width={400}
            height={600}
            className="k-m-auto"
        />
    </div>
);

1. To style the Chat, install and import the Default theme, which is one of the themes for KendoReact.

   2.1. Install the Default theme package.

   sh

   npm i @progress/kendo-theme-default

   2.2. Import the CSS file from the package in src/App.js. Add this import before your existing App.css import.

   jsx

   import '@progress/kendo-theme-default/dist/all.css';

Activating Your License Key

Important: The KendoReact Conversational UI is a premium component that requires a license key file to be installed in your project. This applies to both trial and commercial usage:

• Trial usage: Start a free trial and download a trial license key file
• Commercial usage: Purchase a license and download a commercial license key file

Without a valid license key file, the component will display licensing warnings and watermarks.

Follow the instructions on the KendoReact My License page to download and install your license key file. You can skip this step if your application already contains a KendoReact license file.

Dependencies

The Conversational UI package requires you to install the following peer dependencies in your application:

Package Name	Description
react 18.0.0*	Contains the functionality necessary to define React components.
react-dom	Contains the React renderer for the web.
@progress/kendo-licensing	Contains the internal infrastructure related to licensing.
@progress/kendo-react-buttons	Contains the KendoReact Buttons components.
@progress/kendo-react-intl	Contains the KendoReact Internationalization package that applies the desired cultures by providing services and pipes for the parsing and formatting of dates and numbers.
@progress/kendo-svg-icons	Contains the KendoReact SVG icons.