OpenChat

Open-source AI chat workspace you can self-host or run on OpenChat Cloud

Features • Quick Start • Deployment • Docs • Contributing

OpenChat is a modern, open-source AI chat platform that combines a streaming TanStack Start frontend with Convex for real-time persistence and live sync. It features Better Auth (GitHub OAuth), OpenRouter integration for 100+ AI models, and a beautiful Tailwind v4 + shadcn design system.

The monorepo is managed with Turborepo and Bun, keeping the web app, Convex functions, shared packages, and browser extension in lockstep.

openchat/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/              # TanStack Start frontend
│   │   ├── src/routes/   # File-based routing
│   │   ├── src/components/
│   │   └── src/stores/   # Zustand state management
│   ├── server/           # Convex backend
│   │   └── convex/       # Database schema & functions
│   └── extension/        # Browser extension (WXT + React)
├── docs/                 # Documentation
│   └── deployment/       # Docker & Dokploy guides
├── docker/               # Dockerfile images
└── scripts/              # Operational scripts

• Bun >= 1.3.0
• Node.js >= 20 (for tooling)
• Convex CLI (auto-installed during dev)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/opentech1/openchat.git
cd openchat

# Install dependencies
bun install

1. Copy environment templates:

   cp env.web.example apps/web/.env.local
   cp env.server.example apps/server/.env.local

2. Configure required variables:

   • VITE_CONVEX_URL - Convex deployment URL
   • VITE_CONVEX_SITE_URL - Convex HTTP actions URL
   • GitHub OAuth credentials (in Convex dashboard)
   • BETTER_AUTH_SECRET - Session secret

3. Optional variables:

   • OPENROUTER_API_KEY - Server API key for free tier
   • VALYU_API_KEY - Web search integration
   • VITE_POSTHOG_KEY - Analytics
   • REDIS_URL - Distributed rate limiting

# Start full development environment
bun dev

# Frontend on http://localhost:3001
# Convex backend runs automatically

Deploy the frontend to Vercel with Convex Cloud for the backend:

# Production deployment
docker compose up -d

See docs/deployment/ for detailed Docker and Dokploy guides.

Single Instance (default): In-memory rate limiting, no setup required.

Multi-Instance: Enable Redis for distributed rate limiting:

# Set Redis URL
export REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

# Or with Docker
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:alpine

We're grateful to our sponsors who help make OpenChat possible:

Thanks to all the amazing people who have contributed to OpenChat!

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

• Use TypeScript with strict mode
• Follow the existing code style (Oxlint enforced)
• Write tests for new features
• Update documentation as needed
• Use conventional commits

• GitHub Issues - Bug reports & feature requests
• GitHub Discussions - Questions & community chat
• Discord - Real-time community support

Found a security vulnerability? Please report it responsibly by emailing security@openchat.dev or through our security policy.

OpenChat is open-source software licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.