Building Your First AI Chat App with Next.js and OpenAI

AI-powered applications are becoming an essential part of modern software. In this guide, we'll build a simple AI chat application using Next.js and the OpenAI API.

What You'll Build

• A responsive chat interface
• Streaming AI responses
• Server-side API routes
• Clean TypeScript code
• Markdown message rendering

Project Structure

app/
├── chat/
├── api/
│   └── chat/
├── components/
└── lib/

Creating the API Route

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages } = await req.json()

  // Send messages to your AI provider
}

Building the Chat UI

Create reusable components for messages, input, and loading states to keep the application clean and maintainable.

Best Practices

• Validate user input
• Handle API errors gracefully
• Stream responses for a better UX
• Store API keys securely
• Optimize performance

Conclusion

Building an AI chat app is an excellent way to learn modern full-stack development while exploring the capabilities of large language models. With Next.js and TypeScript, you can create fast, scalable, and user-friendly AI applications.