⚛️ React Frontend Setup

Time to build the visual side of your AI chat app! 🎨

We’re using React with Vite (super fast) and Tailwind CSS (beautiful styling without the hassle). Your frontend will be clean, modern, and ready to chat with AI.

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🚀 Step 1: Create Your React App

Important: Make sure you’re in your main project folder (not inside the backend folder).

npm create vite@latest openai-frontend --template react
cd openai-frontend

Why Vite? It’s lightning fast, has hot reloading, and builds are instant. Much better than Create React App.

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📦 Step 2: Install Essential Packages

Install the core packages:

npm install

Add chat-specific packages:

npm install lucide-react react-markdown

Add Tailwind CSS:

npm install -D tailwindcss @tailwindcss/vite

What each package does:

• lucide-react - Beautiful icons (send buttons, loading spinners, etc.)
• react-markdown - Renders AI responses with proper formatting
• tailwindcss - Modern CSS without writing CSS files

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⚙️ Step 3: Configure Clean Imports

Tired of imports like ../../../components/Button? Let’s fix that.

Update vite.config.js:

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite'

export default defineConfig({
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      '@': '/src',
    },
  },
  plugins: [react(), tailwindcss()],
})

Now you can import like this:

import Button from '@/components/Button'  // ✅ Clean
// Instead of: import Button from '../../../components/Button'  ❌ Messy

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🎨 Step 4: Setup Tailwind CSS

Replace the contents of src/index.css:

@import "tailwindcss";

That’s it! Tailwind’s new version is much simpler to set up.

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🧪 Step 5: Test Your Setup

Start your frontend:

npm run dev

You should see: Local: http://localhost:5173

Test Tailwind by updating src/App.jsx:

function App() {
  return (
    <div className="min-h-screen bg-gradient-to-br from-blue-50 to-indigo-100 flex items-center justify-center p-4">
      <div className="bg-white rounded-2xl shadow-xl p-8 max-w-md w-full">
        <div className="text-center">
          <div className="w-16 h-16 bg-gradient-to-r from-blue-500 to-indigo-600 rounded-full flex items-center justify-center mx-auto mb-4">
            <span className="text-2xl">🤖</span>
          </div>
          <h1 className="text-2xl font-bold text-gray-800 mb-2">
            AI Chat Frontend
          </h1>
          <p className="text-gray-600">
            Ready to connect to your intelligent backend!
          </p>
          <div className="mt-6">
            <div className="inline-flex items-center px-4 py-2 bg-green-100 text-green-800 rounded-full text-sm">
              ✅ Frontend Ready
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  )
}

export default App

Success looks like: A beautiful centered card with gradient background and AI emoji.

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📂 Your Project Structure

Your frontend should look like this:

openai-frontend/
├── src/
│   ├── App.jsx          # Your main component
│   ├── index.css        # Tailwind imports
│   └── main.jsx         # React entry point
├── vite.config.js       # Vite configuration
├── package.json         # Dependencies
└── index.html           # HTML template

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🔧 Common Issues & Solutions

❌ “Vite command not found”

• Make sure Node.js is installed
• Try npx create vite@latest instead

❌ “Tailwind styles not working”

• Check src/index.css has @import "tailwindcss";
• Restart your dev server (npm run dev)

❌ “Import alias not working”

• Restart dev server after changing vite.config.js
• Make sure the path starts with @/

❌ “Port already in use”

• Vite will automatically find the next available port (5174, 5175, etc.)
• Or specify a port: npm run dev -- --port 3000

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🌐 Development Workflow

Now you have two servers running:

Backend (Port 8000):

# In your openai-backend folder
npm run dev

Frontend (Port 5173):

# In your openai-frontend folder
npm run dev

Pro tip: Open two terminal tabs to run both simultaneously.

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Perfect! Your frontend is ready for AI integration. ✨

You now have:

• ⚡ Lightning-fast development with Vite
• 🎨 Beautiful styling with Tailwind CSS
• 🧹 Clean imports with path aliases
• 🤖 Modern React setup ready for chat components

👉 Next: Building the Chat Interface - Let’s create the actual chat UI!