---
audience: power_user
summary: "Streaming vs. conversational \u2014 and the per-(room\xD7AI) override."
title: Tune AI response mode
path: tutorials/power-user/tune-ai-response-mode
status: published
---

# Tune AI response mode

The two modes:

- **Streaming**: tokens appear in one growing message as the AI types.
  Good for short replies, code blocks, anything you read top-to-bottom.
- **Conversational**: paragraphs flush as separate messages on
  boundary detection. Good for long-form replies; the AI feels like
  someone typing follow-ups rather than dumping a wall.

Default mode for new rooms is `conversational`. You can override
globally, per room, or per-AI within a room.

## Where to change it

### Per (room × AI)

Chat header → **mode toggle** (one click for 1-AI rooms; per-AI
dropdown for multi-AI rooms).

Via slash command:

```bash
/mode chat            # → conversational
/mode continuous      # → streaming
/mode <ai-name> chat  # multi-AI per-AI form
```

Via the API:

```bash
PUT /v1/rooms/{room_id}/ai/response-mode
{ "mode": "streaming", "participant_id": "<ai-id-or-null>" }
```

`participant_id=null` flips every AI in the room.

### Global user default

**Settings → AI → Default response mode**. Affects every new room
you join. Existing rooms keep their per-room setting.

## When room-wide flips persist to your profile default

A room-wide mode flip (no `participant_id`) updates your profile
default. Per-AI flips do **not** — tweaking one AI in one room
shouldn't change your global preference. This is deliberate.

## Heuristic for picking

Pick **streaming** when:

- Replies are typically short (< 200 words).
- You want to read top-to-bottom as it generates.
- The reply is mostly code — you want to see the code form line by
  line.

Pick **conversational** when:

- Replies are long and structured.
- You want to interrupt mid-flow — easier to react to message 2 of
  5 than to a single growing wall.
- The AI is doing iterative reasoning ("first I'll …, then I'll …").

## How "paragraph boundary" detection works

In conversational mode, the streaming response is buffered. When the
text crosses a paragraph boundary (a blank line, end of a fenced
code block, end of a list item with a following blank), the buffer
flushes as a new message. There's also a max-length safety so a
single super-long paragraph still gets sent.

If the model decides to stop mid-paragraph, that final buffer
flushes regardless.

## Sampling parameters

Mode is one knob; the others (`temperature`, `top_p`, `max_tokens`,
`frequency_penalty`, `presence_penalty`, `reasoning_effort`) are
per-room too. Set under **Engagement → Sampling** or via:

```bash
PUT /v1/rooms/{room_id}/ai/temperature
{ "value": 0.7, "participant_id": null }
```

The [prompt studio](/docs/scaiwave/tutorials/power-user/use-prompt-studio)
is the easiest way to dial these in — preview before applying.

## Where to go next

- [Use the prompt studio](/docs/scaiwave/tutorials/power-user/use-prompt-studio).
- [Concepts: AI engagement](/docs/scaiwave/concepts/ai-engagement).
- API: [AI](/docs/scaiwave/reference/api/ai).