diff --git a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/ExplorerHomeTab.tsx b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/ExplorerHomeTab.tsx
index ef4bef56b26..80da4693f81 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/ExplorerHomeTab.tsx
+++ b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/ExplorerHomeTab.tsx
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
-import { MessageSquarePlus, NotebookText, SquareCode } from 'lucide-react'
+import { NotebookText, SquareCode } from 'lucide-react'
 import { useState } from 'react'
 
 import { useCreateChat, useCreateNotebook, useCreateQuery } from './hooks'
-import { CHAT_TEMPLATES, NOTEBOOK_TEMPLATES } from './templates'
+import { NOTEBOOK_TEMPLATES } from './templates'
 import { ActionCard } from '@/components/layouts/Tabs/ActionCard'
+import { CHAT_TEMPLATES } from '@/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIAssistant.prompts'
+import { AssistantAgentHarnessFooter } from '@/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantAgentHarnessFooter'
 import { AssistantChatForm } from '@/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantChatForm'
 
 export const ExplorerHomeTab = () => {
@@ -16,21 +18,19 @@ export const ExplorerHomeTab = () => {
   return (
     <div className="bg-surface-100 h-full flex flex-col items-center justify-center px-10">
       <div className="w-full max-w-2xl">
-        <div className="flex items-center justify-center flex-col gap-y-1 mb-12">
-          <h1 className="heading-section">Explore your project</h1>
-          <p className="text-foreground-lighter text-sm">
-            Ask the Assistant about your data, or begin with a new resource.
-          </p>
+        <div className="text-center mb-6">
+          <h1 className="heading-section">Run SQL. Chat with your project. Create a Notebook</h1>
         </div>
 
         <AssistantChatForm
           loading={false}
           className="bg"
-          placeholder="Ask anything about your project"
+          placeholder="Explore your data, check project health, create a notebook..."
           value={value}
           onValueChange={(e) => setValue(e.target.value)}
           onSubmit={(message) => createChat({ initialMessage: message })}
         />
+        <AssistantAgentHarnessFooter />
 
         <section className="mt-6">
           <div className="grid grid-cols-1 gap-4 sm:grid-cols-2">
@@ -70,9 +70,8 @@ export const ExplorerHomeTab = () => {
             {CHAT_TEMPLATES.map((template) => (
               <ActionCard
                 key={template.title}
-                icon={<MessageSquarePlus className="h-4 w-4 text-foreground" strokeWidth={1.5} />}
+                icon={<template.icon className="h-4 w-4 text-foreground" strokeWidth={1.5} />}
                 title={template.title}
-                description={template.description}
                 bgColor="bg-blue-500"
                 onClick={() =>
                   createChat({ name: template.title, initialMessage: template.initialMessage })
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/templates.ts b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/templates.ts
index 498f958b824..31e33055af8 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/templates.ts
+++ b/apps/studio/components/interfaces/Explorer/templates.ts
@@ -1,30 +1,6 @@
 import { createLogCellSkeleton, createMarkdownCellSkeleton, createQueryCellSkeleton } from './utils'
 import type { Notebooks } from '@/types'
 
-export type ChatTemplate = {
-  title: string
-  description: string
-  initialMessage: string
-}
-
-export const CHAT_TEMPLATES: ChatTemplate[] = [
-  {
-    title: 'Generate sample data',
-    description: 'Chat template',
-    initialMessage: 'Generate sample data for a blog with users, posts, and comments tables.',
-  },
-  {
-    title: 'Set up RLS policies',
-    description: 'Chat template',
-    initialMessage: 'Create RLS policies to ensure users can only access their own data.',
-  },
-  {
-    title: 'Build a notebook',
-    description: 'Chat template',
-    initialMessage: 'Build me a notebook that tracks weekly signups and active users.',
-  },
-]
-
 export type NotebookTemplate = {
   title: string
   description: string
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/layouts/Tabs/ActionCard.tsx b/apps/studio/components/layouts/Tabs/ActionCard.tsx
index 24f4057997b..9586bb2599a 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/layouts/Tabs/ActionCard.tsx
+++ b/apps/studio/components/layouts/Tabs/ActionCard.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import type { ReactNode } from 'react'
-import { Card } from 'ui'
+import { Card, cn } from 'ui'
 
 export const ActionCard = (card: {
   icon: ReactNode
   title: string
-  description: string
+  description?: string
   bgColor: string
   onClick?: () => void
 }) => {
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ export const ActionCard = (card: {
       className="grow bg-surface-100 p-3 transition-colors hover:bg-surface-200 border hover:border-default cursor-pointer"
       onClick={card.onClick}
     >
-      <div className={`relative flex items-start gap-3`}>
+      <div className={cn('relative flex gap-3', card.description ? 'items-start' : 'items-center')}>
         <div
           className={`rounded-full ${card.bgColor} w-8 h-8 flex items-center justify-center shrink-0`}
         >
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export const ActionCard = (card: {
         </div>
         <div className="flex flex-col gap-0">
           <h3 className="text-sm text-foreground mb-0">{card.title}</h3>
-          <p className="text-xs text-foreground-light">{card.description}</p>
+          {card.description && <p className="text-xs text-foreground-light">{card.description}</p>}
         </div>
       </div>
     </Card>
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIAssistant.prompts.ts b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIAssistant.prompts.ts
index 8274e777d8e..b2711d99aa8 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIAssistant.prompts.ts
+++ b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIAssistant.prompts.ts
@@ -1,42 +1,51 @@
-export const defaultPrompts = [
+import {
+  BookOpen,
+  Bug,
+  Database,
+  Gauge,
+  NotebookText,
+  ShieldCheck,
+  type LucideIcon,
+} from 'lucide-react'
+
+export type ChatTemplate = {
+  title: string
+  icon: LucideIcon
+  initialMessage: string
+}
+
+export const CHAT_TEMPLATES: ChatTemplate[] = [
   {
-    title: 'Create a back-end',
-    prompt:
-      'Create a messaging app with users, messages, and an edge function that uses OpenAI to summarize message threads.',
-  },
-  {
-    title: 'Health check',
-    prompt: 'Can you check if my database and edge functions are healthy?',
-  },
-  {
-    title: 'Query your data',
-    prompt: 'Give me a list of new users from the auth.users table who signed up in the past week',
+    title: 'Generate sample data',
+    icon: Database,
+    initialMessage: 'Generate sample data for a blog with users, posts, and comments tables.',
   },
   {
     title: 'Set up RLS policies',
-    prompt: 'Create RLS policies to ensure users can only access their own data',
+    icon: ShieldCheck,
+    initialMessage: 'Create RLS policies to ensure users can only access their own data.',
   },
   {
-    title: 'Create a function',
-    prompt: 'Create an edge function that summarises the contents of a table row using OpenAI',
-  },
-  {
-    title: 'Generate sample data',
-    prompt: 'Generate sample data for a blog with users, posts, and comments tables',
+    title: 'Build a notebook',
+    icon: NotebookText,
+    initialMessage: 'Build me a notebook that tracks weekly signups and active users.',
   },
 ]
 
 export const codeSnippetPrompts = [
   {
     title: 'Explain code',
+    icon: BookOpen,
     prompt: 'Explain what this code does and how it works',
   },
   {
     title: 'Improve code',
+    icon: Gauge,
     prompt: 'How can I improve this code for better performance and readability?',
   },
   {
     title: 'Debug issues',
+    icon: Bug,
     prompt: 'Help me debug any potential issues with this code',
   },
 ]
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIOnboarding.tsx b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIOnboarding.tsx
index 83df5deb1a1..74771eb8ecb 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIOnboarding.tsx
+++ b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AIOnboarding.tsx
@@ -1,15 +1,12 @@
-import { useParams } from 'common'
-import { motion } from 'framer-motion'
-import { BarChart, FileText, Shield } from 'lucide-react'
-import { AiIconAnimation, Button, Skeleton } from 'ui'
+import { MessageSquarePlus } from 'lucide-react'
+import type { ReactNode } from 'react'
 
-import { codeSnippetPrompts, defaultPrompts } from './AIAssistant.prompts'
-import { LINTER_LEVELS } from '@/components/interfaces/Linter/Linter.constants'
-import { createLintSummaryPrompt } from '@/components/interfaces/Linter/Linter.utils'
-import { useProjectLintsQuery, type Lint } from '@/data/lint/lint-query'
+import { CHAT_TEMPLATES, codeSnippetPrompts } from './AIAssistant.prompts'
+import { ActionCard } from '@/components/layouts/Tabs/ActionCard'
 import type { SqlSnippet } from '@/state/ai-assistant-state'
 
 interface AIOnboardingProps {
+  children: ReactNode
   sqlSnippets?: SqlSnippet[]
   suggestions?: {
     title?: string
@@ -20,161 +17,64 @@ interface AIOnboardingProps {
 }
 
 export const AIOnboarding = ({
+  children,
   sqlSnippets,
   suggestions,
   onValueChange,
   onFocusInput,
 }: AIOnboardingProps) => {
-  const prompts = suggestions?.prompts
-    ? suggestions.prompts.map((suggestion) => ({
-        title: suggestion.label,
-        prompt: suggestion.description,
-        icon: <FileText strokeWidth={1.25} size={14} className="w-4! h-4!" />,
-      }))
-    : sqlSnippets && sqlSnippets.length > 0
-      ? codeSnippetPrompts
-      : defaultPrompts
+  const suggestionPrompts = suggestions?.prompts ?? []
+  const hasSuggestions = suggestionPrompts.length > 0
+  let templates = CHAT_TEMPLATES
 
-  const { ref: projectRef } = useParams()
-  const { data: lints, isLoading: isLoadingLints } = useProjectLintsQuery({ projectRef })
-
-  const errorLints: Lint[] = (lints?.filter((lint) => lint.level === LINTER_LEVELS.ERROR) ??
-    []) as Lint[]
-  const securityErrorLints = errorLints.filter((lint) => lint.categories?.[0] === 'SECURITY')
-  const performanceErrorLints = errorLints.filter((lint) => lint.categories?.[0] !== 'SECURITY')
+  if (hasSuggestions) {
+    templates = suggestionPrompts.map((suggestion) => ({
+      title: suggestion.label,
+      icon: MessageSquarePlus,
+      initialMessage: suggestion.description,
+    }))
+  } else if (sqlSnippets && sqlSnippets.length > 0) {
+    templates = codeSnippetPrompts.map((prompt) => ({
+      title: prompt.title,
+      icon: prompt.icon,
+      initialMessage: prompt.prompt,
+    }))
+  }
 
   return (
-    <div className="flex-1 overflow-y-auto max-w-3xl mx-auto w-full">
-      <div className="w-full flex-1 max-h-full min-h-full px-4 flex flex-col gap-0">
-        <div className="mt-auto w-full space-y-6 py-8 ">
-          <motion.h2
-            className="heading-section text-foreground mx-4 flex items-center gap-x-3"
-            initial={{ y: 5, opacity: 0 }}
-            animate={{ y: 0, opacity: 1 }}
-            transition={{ duration: 0.3 }}
-          >
-            How can I assist you?
-            <AiIconAnimation size={18} allowHoverEffect={false} />
-          </motion.h2>
-          {suggestions?.prompts?.length ? (
-            <div>
-              <h3 className="heading-meta text-foreground-light mb-3 mx-4">Suggestions</h3>
-              {prompts.map((item, index) => (
-                <motion.div
-                  key={item.title}
-                  initial={{ y: 5, opacity: 0 }}
-                  animate={{ y: 0, opacity: 1 }}
-                  transition={{ duration: 0.3, delay: index * 0.05 }}
-                >
-                  <Button
-                    size="small"
-                    variant="text"
-                    className="w-full justify-start border-b hover:border-b-0 hover:rounded-md rounded-none"
-                    icon={
-                      <FileText strokeWidth={1.5} size={14} className="text-foreground-light" />
-                    }
-                    onClick={() => {
-                      onValueChange(item.prompt)
-                      onFocusInput?.()
-                    }}
-                  >
-                    {item.title}
-                  </Button>
-                </motion.div>
-              ))}
-            </div>
-          ) : (
-            <>
-              {isLoadingLints ? (
-                <div className="px-4 flex flex-col gap-2">
-                  <Skeleton className="h-5 w-20" />
-                  {Array.from({ length: 6 }).map((_, index) => (
-                    <Skeleton key={`loader-${index}`} className="h-7 w-full" />
-                  ))}
-                </div>
-              ) : (
-                <>
-                  {performanceErrorLints.length > 0 && (
-                    <div className="mb-4">
-                      <h3 className="heading-meta text-foreground-light mb-3 mx-4">
-                        Improve Performance
-                      </h3>
-                      {performanceErrorLints.map((lint, index) => {
-                        return (
-                          <Button
-                            key={`${lint.name}-${index}`}
-                            size="small"
-                            variant="text"
-                            className="w-full justify-start"
-                            icon={
-                              <BarChart
-                                strokeWidth={1.5}
-                                size={14}
-                                className="text-foreground-light"
-                              />
-                            }
-                            onClick={() => {
-                              onValueChange(createLintSummaryPrompt(lint))
-                              onFocusInput?.()
-                            }}
-                          >
-                            {lint.detail ? lint.detail.replace('\\`', '') : lint.title}
-                          </Button>
-                        )
-                      })}
-                    </div>
-                  )}
-
-                  {securityErrorLints.length > 0 && (
-                    <div className="mb-4">
-                      <h3 className="heading-meta text-foreground-light mb-3 mx-4">
-                        Improve Security
-                      </h3>
-                      {securityErrorLints.map((lint, index) => {
-                        return (
-                          <Button
-                            key={`${lint.name}-${index}`}
-                            size="small"
-                            variant="text"
-                            className="w-full justify-start"
-                            icon={<Shield strokeWidth={1.5} size={14} className="text-warning" />}
-                            onClick={() => {
-                              onValueChange(createLintSummaryPrompt(lint))
-                              onFocusInput?.()
-                            }}
-                          >
-                            {lint.detail ? lint.detail.replace(/\\`/g, '') : lint.title}
-                          </Button>
-                        )
-                      })}
-                    </div>
-                  )}
-
-                  <div>
-                    <h3 className="heading-meta text-foreground-light mb-3 mx-4">Ideas</h3>
-                    {prompts.map((item, index) => (
-                      <Button
-                        key={`${item.title}-${index}`}
-                        size="small"
-                        variant="text"
-                        className="w-full justify-start"
-                        icon={
-                          <FileText strokeWidth={1.5} size={14} className="text-foreground-light" />
-                        }
-                        onClick={() => {
-                          onValueChange(item.prompt)
-                          onFocusInput?.()
-                        }}
-                      >
-                        {item.title}
-                      </Button>
-                    ))}
-                  </div>
-                </>
-              )}
-            </>
-          )}
+    <div className="@container flex min-h-0 flex-1 flex-col overflow-y-auto px-6 py-8">
+      <div className="m-auto w-full max-w-2xl">
+        <div className="mb-6 text-center">
+          <h2 className="heading-section">Chat with your project</h2>
         </div>
+
+        {children}
+
+        <section className="mt-8 flex flex-col gap-y-3">
+          {hasSuggestions && suggestions?.title && (
+            <h3 className="text-sm font-medium text-foreground">{suggestions.title}</h3>
+          )}
+          <div className="grid grid-cols-1 gap-3 @2xl:grid-cols-3">
+            {templates.map((template) => (
+              <button
+                key={template.title}
+                type="button"
+                tabIndex={0}
+                className="rounded-md text-left focus-visible:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-brand"
+                onClick={() => {
+                  onValueChange(template.initialMessage)
+                  onFocusInput?.()
+                }}
+              >
+                <ActionCard
+                  icon={<template.icon className="h-4 w-4 text-foreground" strokeWidth={1.5} />}
+                  title={template.title}
+                  bgColor="bg-brand-400"
+                />
+              </button>
+            ))}
+          </div>
+        </section>
       </div>
     </div>
   )
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantAgentHarnessFooter.tsx b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantAgentHarnessFooter.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..59efa660839
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantAgentHarnessFooter.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import { useTheme } from 'next-themes'
+import { parseAsBoolean, parseAsString, useQueryStates } from 'nuqs'
+import { ConnectionIcon } from 'ui-patterns/McpUrlBuilder/components/ConnectionIcon'
+
+export const AssistantAgentHarnessFooter = () => {
+  const { resolvedTheme } = useTheme()
+  const theme = resolvedTheme === 'dark' ? 'dark' : 'light'
+  const [, setConnectParams] = useQueryStates({
+    showConnect: parseAsBoolean.withDefault(false),
+    connectTab: parseAsString,
+  })
+
+  return (
+    <div className="mx-3">
+      <button
+        type="button"
+        tabIndex={0}
+        className="flex w-full shrink-0 cursor-pointer items-center justify-between gap-3 overflow-hidden rounded-b-lg border-x border-b bg-surface-100 py-2 pr-2 pl-3 text-left text-xs text-foreground-light shadow-xs transition-colors hover:bg-surface-200 hover:border-default"
+        onClick={() => setConnectParams({ showConnect: true, connectTab: 'mcp' })}
+      >
+        <span className="min-w-0 flex-1">Use your own agent</span>
+        <span className="flex shrink-0 items-center gap-3" aria-hidden="true">
+          <ConnectionIcon connection="claude" theme={theme} />
+          <ConnectionIcon connection="openai" theme={theme} hasDistinctDarkIcon />
+          <ConnectionIcon connection="cursor" theme={theme} hasDistinctDarkIcon />
+        </span>
+      </button>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantChat.tsx b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantChat.tsx
index 20a61842684..afd612b6c0f 100644
--- a/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantChat.tsx
+++ b/apps/studio/components/ui/AIAssistantPanel/AssistantChat.tsx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import {
   resolvePendingToolApprovalsAsDenied,
 } from './AIAssistant.utils'
 import { AIOnboarding } from './AIOnboarding'
+import { AssistantAgentHarnessFooter } from './AssistantAgentHarnessFooter'
 import { AssistantChatForm } from './AssistantChatForm'
 import {
   Conversation,
@@ -445,9 +446,95 @@ export const AssistantChat = ({
   } else if (isSupportChat) {
     placeholder = 'Describe your support issue...'
   } else {
-    placeholder = 'Chat to Postgres...'
+    placeholder = 'Ask about your data, troubleshoot an issue, or explore your project...'
   }
 
+  const composer = (
+    <div className={cn('relative z-20 w-full', hasMessages && 'px-7 pb-3')}>
+      <div className="mx-auto flex w-full max-w-3xl flex-col gap-y-3">
+        {isSupportChat && !isSupportChatClosed && (
+          <div>
+            <div className="mb-3 border-t" />
+            <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
+              <Button
+                variant="outline"
+                size="tiny"
+                disabled={!supportConversationId}
+                onClick={() => state.setSupportLifecycleStatus(chatId, 'escalated')}
+              >
+                Escalate to human
+              </Button>
+              <Button
+                variant="outline"
+                size="tiny"
+                disabled={!supportConversationId}
+                onClick={() => state.setSupportLifecycleStatus(chatId, 'user_resolved')}
+              >
+                Resolve
+              </Button>
+            </div>
+          </div>
+        )}
+        {disablePrompts && (
+          <Admonition
+            showIcon={false}
+            type="default"
+            title="Assistant has been temporarily disabled"
+            description="We're currently looking into getting it back online"
+          />
+        )}
+
+        {isSuccess && !isApiKeySet && (
+          <Admonition
+            type="default"
+            title="OpenAI API key not set"
+            description={
+              <Markdown
+                content={
+                  'Add your `OPENAI_API_KEY` to your environment variables to use the AI Assistant.'
+                }
+              />
+            }
+          />
+        )}
+
+        <div>
+          <AssistantChatForm
+            textAreaRef={inputRef}
+            className={cn('z-20', !hasMessages && 'bg')}
+            loading={isChatLoading}
+            isEditing={!!editingMessageId}
+            disabled={isChatInputDisabled}
+            placeholder={placeholder}
+            value={value}
+            onValueChange={(e) => {
+              setValue(e.target.value)
+              onInputChange?.(e.target.value)
+            }}
+            onSubmit={(finalMessage) => {
+              sendMessageToAssistant(finalMessage)
+            }}
+            onStop={() => {
+              stop()
+              // to save partial responses from the AI
+              const lastMessage = chatMessages[chatMessages.length - 1]
+              if (lastMessage && lastMessage.role === 'assistant') {
+                state.updateMessage(lastMessage, chatId)
+              }
+            }}
+            sqlSnippets={composerContext?.sqlSnippets}
+            onRemoveSnippet={(index) => {
+              const newSnippets = [...(composerContext?.sqlSnippets ?? [])]
+              newSnippets.splice(index, 1)
+              composerContext?.onSetSqlSnippets?.(newSnippets)
+            }}
+            includeSnippetsInMessage={includeSnippetsInMessage}
+          />
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  )
+
   return (
     <ErrorBoundary
       message="Something went wrong with the AI Assistant"
@@ -546,15 +633,7 @@ export const AssistantChat = ({
             </ConversationContent>
             <ConversationScrollButton />
           </Conversation>
-        ) : (
-          <AIOnboarding
-            key={chatId}
-            sqlSnippets={composerContext?.sqlSnippets}
-            suggestions={composerContext?.suggestions}
-            onValueChange={(val) => setValue(val)}
-            onFocusInput={() => inputRef.current?.focus()}
-          />
-        )}
+        ) : null}
 
         <AnimatePresence>
           {editingMessageId && (
@@ -600,87 +679,23 @@ export const AssistantChat = ({
           )}
         </AnimatePresence>
 
-        <div className="relative z-20 w-full px-7 pb-3">
-          <div className="mx-auto flex w-full max-w-3xl flex-col gap-y-3">
-            {isSupportChat && !isSupportChatClosed && (
-              <div>
-                <div className="mb-3 border-t" />
-                <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
-                  <Button
-                    variant="outline"
-                    size="tiny"
-                    disabled={!supportConversationId}
-                    onClick={() => state.setSupportLifecycleStatus(chatId, 'escalated')}
-                  >
-                    Escalate to human
-                  </Button>
-                  <Button
-                    variant="outline"
-                    size="tiny"
-                    disabled={!supportConversationId}
-                    onClick={() => state.setSupportLifecycleStatus(chatId, 'user_resolved')}
-                  >
-                    Resolve
-                  </Button>
-                </div>
-              </div>
-            )}
-            {disablePrompts && (
-              <Admonition
-                showIcon={false}
-                type="default"
-                title="Assistant has been temporarily disabled"
-                description="We're currently looking into getting it back online"
-              />
-            )}
-
-            {isSuccess && !isApiKeySet && (
-              <Admonition
-                type="default"
-                title="OpenAI API key not set"
-                description={
-                  <Markdown
-                    content={
-                      'Add your `OPENAI_API_KEY` to your environment variables to use the AI Assistant.'
-                    }
-                  />
-                }
-              />
-            )}
-
-            <AssistantChatForm
-              textAreaRef={inputRef}
-              className="z-20"
-              loading={isChatLoading}
-              isEditing={!!editingMessageId}
-              disabled={isChatInputDisabled}
-              placeholder={placeholder}
-              value={value}
-              onValueChange={(e) => {
-                setValue(e.target.value)
-                onInputChange?.(e.target.value)
-              }}
-              onSubmit={(finalMessage) => {
-                sendMessageToAssistant(finalMessage)
-              }}
-              onStop={() => {
-                stop()
-                // to save partial responses from the AI
-                const lastMessage = chatMessages[chatMessages.length - 1]
-                if (lastMessage && lastMessage.role === 'assistant') {
-                  state.updateMessage(lastMessage, chatId)
-                }
-              }}
-              sqlSnippets={composerContext?.sqlSnippets}
-              onRemoveSnippet={(index) => {
-                const newSnippets = [...(composerContext?.sqlSnippets ?? [])]
-                newSnippets.splice(index, 1)
-                composerContext?.onSetSqlSnippets?.(newSnippets)
-              }}
-              includeSnippetsInMessage={includeSnippetsInMessage}
-            />
-          </div>
-        </div>
+        {hasMessages ? (
+          composer
+        ) : (
+          <AIOnboarding
+            key={chatId}
+            sqlSnippets={composerContext?.sqlSnippets}
+            suggestions={composerContext?.suggestions}
+            onValueChange={(prompt) => {
+              setValue(prompt)
+              onInputChange?.(prompt)
+            }}
+            onFocusInput={() => inputRef.current?.focus()}
+          >
+            {composer}
+            {!isSupportChat && <AssistantAgentHarnessFooter />}
+          </AIOnboarding>
+        )}
       </div>
     </ErrorBoundary>
   )
diff --git a/e2e/studio/features/assistant.spec.ts b/e2e/studio/features/assistant.spec.ts
index c549040e531..d510ca77c12 100644
--- a/e2e/studio/features/assistant.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/studio/features/assistant.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { expect } from '@playwright/test'
+
 import { test } from '../utils/test.js'
 import { toUrl } from '../utils/to-url.js'
 
@@ -16,10 +17,12 @@ test.describe('AI Assistant', async () => {
     await page.locator('#assistant-trigger').click()
 
     // Wait for the assistant panel to be visible
-    await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'How can I assist you?' })).toBeVisible()
+    await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'Chat with your project' })).toBeVisible()
 
     // Type "hello" in the chat input
-    const chatInput = page.getByRole('textbox', { name: 'Chat to Postgres...' })
+    const chatInput = page.getByRole('textbox', {
+      name: 'Ask about your data, troubleshoot an issue, or explore your project...',
+    })
     await chatInput.fill('hello')
 
     const responsePromise = page.waitForResponse(