Next.js & React with ChatGPT – Development Guide (2023)

What is Next.js?

Next.js is a React-based framework that provides infrastructure and simple development experience for server-side rendered(SSR) & static page applications.

• An intuitive page-based routing system (with support for dynamic routes)
• Pre-rendering, both static generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR), are supported on a per-page basis.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a powerful AI language model created by OpenAI that can understand and respond to text inputs like a human. It has been trained on vast amounts of text data, making it a versatile tool for various language-based applications.

What are you going to work on?

Throughout the course, you will gain experience developing a Next JS application from the ground up. Additionally, you’ll receive instruction on integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT to create a chatbot application that enables users to ask the AI any questions about a specific technology stack, such as a library, framework, or programming language that will be taught in the course. The ultimate goal of the course is to equip you with the skills necessary to create a functional chatbot app.

A big portion of the course is preparing the application layout, improving user experience, and getting everything together from scratch. Every part of the course is skippable, with the option to download the version of the project from any stage of the course.

The course covers a text completion from OpenAI, mostly used for Chatbots. The course doesn’t focus on covering every topic of chatGPT but rather provides a practical development guide on how to integrate the ai model into the Next JS application.

The course can be briefly summarized in these points:

• Layout preparation – Several lectures are provided to prepare the application layout, with everything built from scratch. Each lecture is optional and can be skipped.
• Components – Code parts are organized into components for better management.
• API Route -An API route is established to handle user queries and provide ChatGPT’s response.
• ChatGPT – ChatGPT is initially integrated with a simple setup.
• ChatGPT parameters – The parameters that influence AI decisions are explained.
• Markdown – The response generated by ChatGPT is formatted in Markdown.
• Sessions – Although the course doesn’t cover authentication, different user scenarios are simulated using sessions/cookies.
• In-memory DB – The application uses lowDB as an in-memory database for data storage.
• AI memory  – Chat history is stored in an in-memory database, enabling the AI model to access more context.
• Personalize AI – Each chatbot has a unique personality and specific knowledge of a framework.
• Deployment – The application will be deployed on Vercel.

While working on the features above, the students will learn and understand ChatGPT features and parameters. They will know how to architecture applications and will be able to create their applications with Next JS and ChatGPT integration.