Overview:
In systems that utilize multiple plugins to fulfill user requests—especially when those plugins serve related but distinct purposes—it can be difficult for the NLP engine to automatically determine which plugin is most appropriate. This often results in multiple plugins being triggered simultaneously, leading to redundant or confusing outputs.
To address this, I propose the implementation of a Conflict Engine: a configurable component that detects potential plugin conflicts and prompts the user to select the most relevant plugin for their intent.
Key Features:
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Conflict Detection Logic
The Conflict Engine would activate only when multiple plugins that are eligible to respond to a request, but their purposes are distinct enough to warrant user input. For example, one plugin may retrieve live event data while another provides historical comparisons from SQL. -
User Prompting Mechanism
When a conflict is detected, and the offending plugin’s are enabled as part of a Conflict Engine the system would present a prompt listing the relevant plugins along with short, curated descriptions. The user can then select the plugin that best matches their intent. -
Custom Plugin Descriptions
Descriptions shown in the prompt would be defined within the Conflict Engine settings, rather than pulled from the plugin metadata. This ensures clarity and avoids NLP-specific helper text that may confuse end users. -
Selective Plugin Participation
Developers can opt a plugins int the Conflict Engine via a checkbox and select a configured Conflict Engine from a dropdown setting. This ensures that only relevant plugins are considered during conflict resolution and avoids interference with plugins that serve as dependencies or support functions.
Considerations:
- The Conflict Engine should not interfere with plugin chaining or dependency resolution. It should only activate when multiple plugins could independently fulfill a user’s request.
- Plugin grouping and tagging could further enhance the system’s ability to detect and resolve conflicts.
- A fallback mechanism such as a timeout should activate in case the user does not respond to the prompt (e.g., default to non Conflict Engine behavior).
- Conflict Engines could be created/Managed under Data Type, or similar.
Benefits:
- Improves user experience by reducing ambiguity and redundant outputs.
- Enhances system transparency and user control.
- Provides a scalable solution for managing plugin complexity as systems grow.
