ztools-guide

name	ztools-guide
description	Guides how to integrate the zTools package for ChatGPT, DALL-E image generation, file upload (S3), slug generation, email sending, and document validation in a .NET 8 project. Use when the user wants to use AI features, upload files, generate slugs, send emails, or understand zTools integration.
allowed-tools	Read, Grep, Glob, Bash, Write, Edit, Task

zTools Integration Guide

You are an expert assistant that helps developers integrate the zTools NuGet package for utility services (ChatGPT, DALL-E, file storage, slug generation, email, document validation) in .NET 8 Web API projects.

Input

The user may provide a specific question or context as argument: $ARGUMENTS

If no argument is provided, present a complete overview of the zTools integration.

When the user asks about zTools, use this knowledge base to provide accurate, contextual guidance.

---

zTools — Data Transfer Objects

Install: dotnet add package zTools --version 0.3.1

Settings

public class zToolsetting { public string ApiUrl { get; set; } }
public class ChatGPTSetting { public string ApiUrl; public string ApiKey; public string Model; }
public class MailerSendSetting { /* MailerSend API config */ }
public class S3Setting { /* S3 bucket, credentials, endpoint config */ }

ChatGPT DTOs

public class ChatMessage
{
    public string Role { get; set; }     // "system", "user", or "assistant"
    public string Content { get; set; }
}

public class ChatGPTRequest { public string Model; public List<ChatMessage> Messages; }
public class ChatGPTResponse { public List<ChatGPTChoice> Choices; public ChatGPTUsage Usage; }
public class ChatGPTMessageRequest { public string Message; }
public class ChatGPTErrorResponse { /* Error handling */ }

DALL-E DTOs

public class DallERequest
{
    public string Prompt { get; set; }    // Image description
    public string Model { get; set; }     // "dall-e-3"
    public string Size { get; set; }      // "1024x1024", "1024x1792", "1792x1024"
    public string Quality { get; set; }   // "standard" or "hd"
    public string Style { get; set; }     // "vivid" or "natural"
}

public class DallEResponse { public List<DallEImageData> Data; }
public class DallEImageData { public string Url; public string RevisedPrompt; }

Email DTOs

public class MailerInfo { /* Email composition and sending */ }
public class MailerRecipientInfo { /* Recipient info */ }
public class MailerErrorInfo { /* Error handling */ }

---

zTools — Anti-Corruption Layer

Install: dotnet add package zTools --version 0.3.1

IChatGPTClient

public interface IChatGPTClient
{
    Task<string> SendMessageAsync(string question);
    Task<string> SendConversationAsync(List<ChatMessage> messages);
    Task<DallEResponse> GenerateImageAdvancedAsync(DallERequest request);
}

IStringClient

public interface IStringClient
{
    Task<string> GenerateSlugAsync(string text);  // "Hello World!" -> "hello-world"
}

IFileClient

public interface IFileClient
{
    Task<string> UploadFileAsync(string bucketName, IFormFile file);   // Returns file name
    Task<string> GetFileUrlAsync(string bucketName, string fileName); // Returns public URL
}

IMailClient / IDocumentClient

public interface IMailClient { /* Email validation and sending via MailerSend */ }
public interface IDocumentClient { /* CPF/CNPJ validation */ }

Implementations: ChatGPTClient, StringClient, FileClient, MailClient, DocumentClient.

---

Step-by-Step Integration

1. Configure appsettings.json

{
  "zTools": {
    "ApiURL": "http://localhost:5001"
  }
}

Docker: use "ApiURL": "http://ztools-api:80".

2. Register Services (DI)

using zTools.ACL;
using zTools.ACL.Interfaces;
using zTools.DTO.Settings;

services.Configure<zToolsetting>(configuration.GetSection("zTools"));
services.AddHttpClient();

// Register only the clients you need
services.AddScoped<IChatGPTClient, ChatGPTClient>();   // ChatGPT + DALL-E
services.AddScoped<IStringClient, StringClient>();      // Slug generation
services.AddScoped<IFileClient, FileClient>();          // File upload/retrieval
services.AddScoped<IMailClient, MailClient>();           // Email sending
services.AddScoped<IDocumentClient, DocumentClient>();   // Document validation

---

Usage Examples

ChatGPT — Simple Question

public async Task<string> AskQuestion(string question)
{
    return await _chatGPTClient.SendMessageAsync(question);
}

ChatGPT — Conversation with System Prompt

using zTools.DTO.ChatGPT;

public async Task<string> GenerateContent(string userPrompt)
{
    var messages = new List<ChatMessage>
    {
        new ChatMessage { Role = "system", Content = "You are a content writer. Return only valid JSON." },
        new ChatMessage { Role = "user", Content = userPrompt }
    };

    var response = await _chatGPTClient.SendConversationAsync(messages);

    // Clean markdown wrapper if present
    var clean = response.Trim();
    if (clean.StartsWith("```json"))
    {
        clean = clean.Substring(7);
        if (clean.EndsWith("```"))
            clean = clean.Substring(0, clean.Length - 3);
        clean = clean.Trim();
    }

    return clean;
}

ChatGPT — Multi-turn Conversation

var messages = new List<ChatMessage>
{
    new ChatMessage { Role = "system", Content = "You are a helpful assistant." },
    new ChatMessage { Role = "user", Content = "What is .NET?" },
    new ChatMessage { Role = "assistant", Content = ".NET is a free, open-source developer platform..." },
    new ChatMessage { Role = "user", Content = "How does dependency injection work in .NET?" }
};
var response = await _chatGPTClient.SendConversationAsync(messages);

DALL-E 3 — Image Generation

public async Task<string?> GenerateImage(string description)
{
    var request = new DallERequest
    {
        Prompt = description,
        Model = "dall-e-3",
        Size = "1024x1024",
        Quality = "standard",
        Style = "vivid"
    };

    var response = await _chatGPTClient.GenerateImageAdvancedAsync(request);

    if (response?.Data == null || !response.Data.Any())
        return null;

    return response.Data.First().Url;  // Temporary URL — must persist!
}

DALL-E 3 — Generate, Download and Upload to S3

Important: DALL-E returns temporary URLs. Always download and re-upload to your own storage.

public async Task<string?> GenerateAndUploadImage(string imagePrompt)
{
    // 1. Generate image
    var imageResponse = await _chatGPTClient.GenerateImageAdvancedAsync(new DallERequest
    {
        Prompt = imagePrompt, Model = "dall-e-3",
        Size = "1024x1024", Quality = "standard", Style = "vivid"
    });

    if (imageResponse?.Data == null || !imageResponse.Data.Any())
        return null;

    var imageUrl = imageResponse.Data.First().Url;
    if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(imageUrl)) return null;

    // 2. Download temporary image
    var imageBytes = await _httpClient.GetByteArrayAsync(imageUrl);

    // 3. Upload to S3
    var fileName = $"ai-generated-{Guid.NewGuid()}.png";
    using var stream = new MemoryStream(imageBytes);
    IFormFile formFile = new FormFileWrapper(stream, fileName, "image/png");

    var uploadedName = await _fileClient.UploadFileAsync("MyBucket", formFile);
    return await _fileClient.GetFileUrlAsync("MyBucket", uploadedName);
}

File Upload — Controller

[Route("api/[controller]")]
[ApiController]
public class ImageController : ControllerBase
{
    private readonly IFileClient _fileClient;
    public ImageController(IFileClient fileClient) { _fileClient = fileClient; }

    [RequestSizeLimit(100_000_000)]
    [HttpPost("upload")]
    [Authorize]
    public async Task<ActionResult<string>> Upload(IFormFile file)
    {
        if (file == null || file.Length == 0)
            return BadRequest("No file uploaded");

        var fileName = await _fileClient.UploadFileAsync("MyBucket", file);
        var url = await _fileClient.GetFileUrlAsync("MyBucket", fileName);
        return Ok(url);
    }
}

Slug Generation with Collision Detection

public async Task<string> GenerateUniqueSlug(string title, Func<string, bool> slugExists)
{
    string slug;
    int counter = 0;
    do
    {
        slug = await _stringClient.GenerateSlugAsync(title);
        if (counter > 0) slug += counter.ToString();  // "my-slug", "my-slug1", "my-slug2"
        counter++;
    } while (slugExists(slug));
    return slug;
}

FormFileWrapper (for programmatic uploads)

internal class FormFileWrapper : IFormFile
{
    private readonly Stream _stream;
    private readonly string _fileName;
    private readonly string _contentType;

    public FormFileWrapper(Stream stream, string fileName, string contentType)
    { _stream = stream; _fileName = fileName; _contentType = contentType; }

    public string ContentType => _contentType;
    public string ContentDisposition => $"form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"{_fileName}\"";
    public IHeaderDictionary Headers => new HeaderDictionary();
    public long Length => _stream.Length;
    public string Name => "file";
    public string FileName => _fileName;

    public void CopyTo(Stream target) => _stream.CopyTo(target);
    public Task CopyToAsync(Stream target, CancellationToken ct = default) => _stream.CopyToAsync(target, ct);
    public Stream OpenReadStream() => _stream;
}

---

Common Patterns

AI Content Generation with Structured JSON

public async Task<MyDto> GenerateWithAI(string prompt)
{
    var messages = new List<ChatMessage>
    {
        new ChatMessage { Role = "system", Content = "Return ONLY valid JSON: {\"title\":\"\",\"body\":\"\",\"tags\":\"\"}" },
        new ChatMessage { Role = "user", Content = prompt }
    };
    var response = await _chatGPTClient.SendConversationAsync(messages);

    // Strip markdown wrapper, then deserialize
    var clean = response.Trim();
    if (clean.StartsWith("```json")) { clean = clean[7..]; if (clean.EndsWith("```")) clean = clean[..^3]; clean = clean.Trim(); }

    return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<MyDto>(clean, new JsonSerializerOptions { PropertyNameCaseInsensitive = true });
}

Combined AI + Image + Storage Pipeline

public async Task<ArticleResult> CreateArticleWithAI(string prompt, bool withImage)
{
    var content = await GenerateWithAI(prompt);

    string? imageUrl = null;
    if (withImage && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(content.ImagePrompt))
        imageUrl = await GenerateAndUploadImage(content.ImagePrompt);

    var slug = await _stringClient.GenerateSlugAsync(content.Title);

    return new ArticleResult { Title = content.Title, Content = content.Body, Slug = slug, ImageUrl = imageUrl };
}

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
ChatGPT returns empty	zTools API unreachable	Verify zTools:ApiURL in appsettings
DALL-E URL expired	Temporary URLs not persisted	Download and re-upload to S3 via IFileClient
GenerateSlugAsync empty	Empty input	Validate input before calling
File upload fails	File too large	Add [RequestSizeLimit] to controller
DI error	Missing registration	Add services.AddScoped<IChatGPTClient, ChatGPTClient>()
JSON wrapped in markdown	ChatGPT formatting	Strip ```json / ``` before deserializing
Slug collision	Duplicate in DB	Use retry loop with counter suffix

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Response Guidelines

1. Be specific: Reference exact class names, interfaces, and method signatures
2. Show code: Include working examples based on the patterns above
3. Context-aware: If in NNews project, reference existing files (ArticleAIService.cs, ImageController.cs, TagService.cs)
4. Minimal changes: Only suggest what's needed for the user's question
5. DALL-E: Always remind about temporary URLs needing persistence via IFileClient