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GitHub Repo Analysis: vercel/ai-chatbot


Executive Summary

The Vercel AI Chatbot project is an open-source, customizable chatbot template built using Next.js and the AI SDK by Vercel. It is designed to facilitate the creation of AI-driven chat applications with features like server-side rendering, data persistence, and authentication. The project is actively maintained by Vercel and has a strong community presence. Currently, the project is in a state of active development with a focus on expanding features and improving user experience.

Recent Activity

Team Members

Recent Commits and PRs

Recent activities indicate a focus on UI/UX improvements and feature expansion, with ongoing collaboration across branches.

Risks

Of Note

  1. Community Engagement: High community interest with 7028 stars and 2182 forks indicates strong support but also high expectations for feature requests and issue resolutions.
  2. UI/UX Focus: Recent merges emphasize improving user experience through UI tweaks and persistent feedback mechanisms.
  3. Integration Requests: Increasing demand for integration with alternative LLM providers highlights the need for flexibility in model usage.

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Recent GitHub Issues Activity

Timespan Opened Closed Comments Labeled Milestones
7 Days 2 0 2 2 1
30 Days 13 3 38 13 1
90 Days 24 11 45 24 1
1 Year 134 102 317 134 1
All Time 236 148 - - -

Like all software activity quantification, these numbers are imperfect but sometimes useful. Comments, Labels, and Milestones refer to those issues opened in the timespan in question.

Rate pull requests



2/5
The pull request is a work in progress (WIP) and not yet complete, which inherently limits its current value. It involves a significant migration from Vercel KV and NextAuth to Supabase, indicating a potentially impactful change. However, the presence of several review comments pointing out issues, such as unused components and confusing links, suggests notable flaws in the current state. The PR has been open for 55 days without resolution, further indicating it needs substantial work before it can be considered ready for merging.
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2/5
The pull request introduces basic functionality for managing agents in a chatbot application, which is a potentially significant feature. However, it is incomplete, with several key functionalities like editing and deleting agents not fully implemented. Additionally, the build is currently failing, which indicates unresolved issues that need attention. The changes are extensive but lack thoroughness and completion, thus requiring more work to be considered a quality contribution.
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2/5
The pull request addresses a minor change by utilizing the 'className' prop in the Sidebar Toggle component, which was previously unused. While this change might be necessary for consistency or future styling flexibility, it is insignificant in terms of functionality or impact on the overall project. The modification involves only a single line of code with no additional documentation or tests provided, suggesting limited scope and importance. Therefore, it merits a rating of 2 as it lacks substantial contribution or significance.
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2/5
The pull request makes a minor syntactic change by replacing 'let' with 'const' for array declarations that are not reassigned. While this is a positive change for code clarity and const-correctness, it is trivial and does not significantly impact the functionality or performance of the code. Such changes are common and do not warrant a high rating unless part of a larger, more impactful refactor.
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3/5
The pull request introduces a new Terra widget and several related components, which could be a useful feature addition. However, it also involves significant refactoring and removal of existing functionalities, such as chat history and authentication logic, which might not be justified or necessary. The changes include the addition of new dependencies and modifications to the environment configuration, which could introduce potential security risks or bugs if not thoroughly tested. Overall, while the PR adds some value, it also carries nontrivial flaws and risks that prevent it from being rated higher.
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3/5
The pull request involves a significant refactor to use hooks and Supabase, which is a moderately significant change. However, it is still in draft status, indicating it may not be complete or fully stable yet. The changes are extensive, touching many files and lines of code, which suggests thoroughness but also potential for nontrivial flaws or instability. The PR is open for a long time (36 days), which might indicate some challenges in finalizing the work. Overall, it seems like an average PR with potential but not without its issues.
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3/5
The pull request refactors the project structure by moving custom hooks to a more appropriate directory, which can enhance organization and maintainability. However, the changes are relatively minor, involving only file relocations and import path updates without any functional improvements or bug fixes. While the refactoring is beneficial for code organization, it lacks significant impact or complexity, making it an average contribution.
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3/5
The pull request addresses a specific issue with back navigation in the chat application, which is a functional improvement. The changes involve a moderate amount of code refactoring and deletion of an unnecessary route, which simplifies the codebase. However, the PR lacks detailed documentation or comments explaining the rationale behind certain code changes, which could aid future maintainability. Additionally, while it fixes a bug, it does not introduce any significant new features or optimizations. Overall, it's an average PR that resolves a specific problem but doesn't go beyond that.
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3/5
The pull request addresses a specific issue by modifying how images are rendered in chat messages, which is a functional improvement. It introduces a CSS class for styling and updates the utility function to handle image content, enhancing the user interface. However, the changes are relatively minor in scope and complexity, primarily involving CSS adjustments and minor logic updates. While it resolves the token overuse problem, it doesn't introduce significant new functionality or complexity, making it an average PR with some utility but not groundbreaking.
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4/5
The pull request introduces a significant new feature, a floating menu, which enhances the user interface by providing additional functionality such as text formatting options. The changes are well-structured, with clear additions to the codebase, including a new component and modifications to existing components to integrate the floating menu. The implementation appears thorough, with attention to detail in UI interactions and state management. However, the PR could benefit from more extensive testing or documentation to ensure robustness and ease of understanding for future maintenance.
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Quantified Commit Activity Over 14 Days

Developer Avatar Branches PRs Commits Files Changes
Jeremy 30 33/30/2 105 71 29622
Jared Palmer 3 2/1/0 23 40 11646
Jude Gao (gaojude) 1 1/0/0 1 4 150
shadcn 1 1/1/0 1 1 11
Taeho Kim (xissy) 0 1/0/1 0 0 0
Ahsan Moin (ahmoin) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
Benjamin Mort (benmort) 0 1/0/1 0 0 0
A C BHASKAR REDDY (acbhaskar1) 0 0/0/1 0 0 0
None (emmanuelhugo) 0 1/0/1 0 0 0
Manny Becerra (mannybecerra) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
Priyank Rajai (Ipriyankrajai) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
NAVNEETKUMAR RAMANBHAI THAKOR (navneetthakor) 0 0/0/1 0 0 0
Thiago Barbosa (thiagobarbosa) 0 1/0/0 0 0 0
None (ErpalCommunity) 0 1/0/1 0 0 0
Dusan Turajlic (dusan-turajlic) 0 1/0/1 0 0 0
None (gregorydgoyins) 0 0/0/1 0 0 0

PRs: created by that dev and opened/merged/closed-unmerged during the period

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Project Risk Ratings

Risk Level (1-5) Rationale
Delivery 4 The project faces significant delivery risks due to a backlog of 88 open issues, unresolved pull requests, and dependency challenges. Issues like deployment failures on Vercel's free plan (#444, #119) and incomplete features in PR#488 contribute to these risks. The high number of open issues suggests resource allocation challenges, impacting the project's ability to meet delivery timelines.
Velocity 4 Velocity is at risk due to a slow issue resolution rate, with only 3 out of 13 issues closed in the last 30 days. Incomplete pull requests like PR#488 and ongoing build failures further hinder development speed. The high commit activity from a few contributors indicates potential burnout risks and uneven workload distribution, affecting overall team velocity.
Dependency 4 The project relies heavily on external libraries and services, including pre-release versions (e.g., 'react@19.0.0-rc-45804af1-20241021'), which pose stability and compatibility risks. Issues with authentication setup using non-GitHub providers (#450, #447) and integration challenges with Vercel's platform further exacerbate dependency risks.
Team 3 The high level of commit activity from a few contributors suggests potential burnout risks and uneven workload distribution. Limited contributions from other team members could indicate engagement issues or skill gaps, impacting team dynamics and productivity.
Code Quality 3 Code quality is a concern due to unresolved bugs (#506, #480) and incomplete features (PR#488). While there are efforts to improve code quality through minor changes (PR#508), the presence of unused components and confusing links in PR#424 highlights ongoing challenges in maintaining high standards.
Technical Debt 4 Technical debt is accumulating due to unresolved issues and incomplete pull requests like PR#488. Frequent refactoring efforts without thorough testing (e.g., PR#434) risk introducing new errors. The backlog of open issues also indicates underlying technical debt that needs addressing.
Test Coverage 3 Test coverage is insufficient as evidenced by persistent bugs (#475) and lack of thorough testing for new features (PR#474). The absence of detailed documentation on testing in recent commits raises concerns about the project's ability to catch regressions effectively.
Error Handling 3 Error handling is inadequate, with issues like client-side errors during registration (#480) indicating gaps in error management. While some improvements are made (PR#484), the lack of comprehensive error handling documentation suggests potential vulnerabilities in the system.

Detailed Reports

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Recent Activity Analysis

Recent GitHub issue activity for the Vercel AI Chatbot project indicates a mix of new feature requests, bug reports, and user inquiries. The issues range from technical errors and deployment challenges to feature enhancements and integration questions. Notably, there are several issues related to authentication errors, deployment failures due to size constraints, and integration with different LLM providers.

Notable Anomalies and Themes

  1. Authentication Challenges: Several issues (#450, #447, #444) highlight difficulties with authentication setup, particularly when using providers other than GitHub. Users have reported problems with OAuth configurations and callback URLs.

  2. Deployment Size Constraints: Issues like #444 and #119 indicate that some users face deployment failures due to edge function size limits on Vercel's free plan. This suggests a need for optimization or guidance on managing deployment sizes.

  3. Integration with Other Providers: There are multiple requests and issues (#169, #170, #164) concerning the integration of alternative LLM providers such as Google PaLM and Hugging Face. Users are seeking guidance on how to adapt the template for different AI models.

  4. Local Development Errors: Several users report issues when running the project locally (#200, #194), often related to environment variable configurations or package dependencies.

  5. Feature Requests: Users have requested additional features such as model selection menus (#226) and support for Azure OpenAI (#162), indicating a demand for more flexibility in model usage.

  6. Bug Reports: Common bugs include UI glitches (#87), syntax highlighting issues (#45), and unexpected behavior in chat history management (#79).

Issue Details

Most Recently Created Issues

  • #506: Sidebar chat titles refetched on every message send (Priority: Medium, Status: Open)

    • Created 1 day ago by İbrahim Sarıkaya
  • #480: Application client-side error during Register and login (Priority: High, Status: Open)

    • Created 6 days ago by Vedant Raut

Most Recently Updated Issues

  • #196: Unexpected token 'e', "error code: 1016" is not valid JSON (Priority: High, Status: Open)

    • Edited 2 days ago by Javid Jamae
  • #480: Application client-side error during Register and login (Priority: High, Status: Open)

    • Edited 5 days ago by Vedant Raut

The project continues to receive active engagement from the community, reflecting its utility and relevance. However, addressing the highlighted challenges could enhance user experience and broaden its applicability across different environments and use cases.

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Analysis of Pull Requests for Vercel AI Chatbot

Open Pull Requests

#508: nit: Update array declarations in utils.ts

  • Summary: A minor update changing let to const for array declarations in utils.ts.
  • Notable Points:
    • This is a minor code quality improvement with no functional changes.
    • Created just a day ago, indicating it's fresh and may not yet have been reviewed.

#488: Add basic assistants/agents

  • Summary: Introduces basic assistant/agent functionality with several features planned but incomplete.
  • Notable Points:
    • The PR is partially complete with some tasks still pending, such as editing and deleting agents.
    • The build is currently failing, which needs addressing before merging.
    • Significant as it adds new features to the chatbot's capabilities.

#485: Use className in Sidebar Toggle

  • Summary: Fixes an issue where className was unused in the Sidebar Toggle component.
  • Notable Points:
    • A small fix that improves code correctness and maintainability.
    • No major issues reported; likely to be merged soon after review.

#484: fix: image preview on chat messages

  • Summary: Fixes image preview issues in chat messages, addressing overuse of tokens by models.
  • Notable Points:
    • Addresses a known issue (#475), improving user experience with image previews.
    • Includes CSS changes for better styling of images.

#474: Add floating menu

  • Summary: Adds a floating menu component to the UI.
  • Notable Points:
    • Enhances UI interaction but requires thorough testing to ensure it integrates well with existing components.

#462: Fix back navigation

  • Summary: Resolves issues with back navigation within the chat interface.
  • Notable Points:
    • Important for improving user navigation and experience.
    • Ready for deployment, indicating it has passed initial tests.

Recently Closed Pull Requests

#507: New company values

  • Summary: Introduced new company values but was closed without merging.
  • Notable Points:
    • Not merged, possibly due to being a test or incorrect submission.

#505: Truncate long emails in sidebar

  • Summary: Merged change to truncate long emails in the sidebar for better UI presentation.
  • Notable Points:
    • A small but useful UI improvement enhancing readability.

#504: Remove blocks as model and switch automatically

  • Summary: Merged change to remove blocks as a model and implement automatic switching.
  • Notable Points:
    • Simplifies user interaction by automating model selection.

#503: Persist auth spinner

  • Summary: Ensures the authentication spinner persists during loading states.
  • Notable Points:
    • Enhances user feedback during authentication processes, improving UX.

Observations

  1. Open PRs with Pending Tasks or Issues:

    • PR #488 has significant pending tasks and build failures that need resolution before merging. This PR is crucial as it introduces new features that expand the chatbot's functionality.
  2. Closed Without Merge:

    • PRs like #507 were closed without merging, which could indicate either a test or an erroneous submission. These should be reviewed to ensure no critical updates are missed.
  3. Recent Merges Focus on UX Improvements:

    • Recent merges such as #505 and #503 focus on improving user experience through UI tweaks and persistent feedback mechanisms, highlighting ongoing efforts to refine the chatbot interface.
  4. Attention Needed for Build Failures:

    • Addressing build failures in open PRs like #488 is critical to maintain project stability and ensure new features are integrated smoothly.

Overall, the project shows active development with a mix of feature additions, bug fixes, and UI improvements. Attention to build stability and thorough testing of new features will be key to maintaining the project's robustness.

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Analysis of Source Code Files

1. components/custom/sidebar-user-nav.tsx

  • Purpose: This component is responsible for rendering a sidebar navigation menu for the user, including a dropdown for theme toggling and sign-out functionality.
  • Structure:
    • Utilizes DropdownMenu components to create a user interaction menu.
    • Integrates with next-auth for user authentication and theme management via next-themes.
  • Quality:
    • The use of Image from next/image ensures optimized image loading.
    • Proper use of TypeScript types enhances type safety ({ user: User }).
    • The code is clean and well-organized, adhering to React best practices.
    • The email truncation feature is implemented using CSS class truncate, which is efficient for UI purposes.

2. ai/models.ts

  • Purpose: Defines model configurations used within the application.
  • Structure:
    • Uses TypeScript interfaces to define the structure of a model.
    • Exports an array of models and a default model name.
  • Quality:
    • The code is concise and uses TypeScript effectively to ensure type safety.
    • The removal of blocks as a model simplifies the configuration, indicating a focus on relevant models only.
    • The use of as const ensures that the array is read-only, preventing accidental modifications.

3. app/(chat)/api/chat/route.ts

  • Purpose: Handles chat API routes, including message processing and tool execution.
  • Structure:
    • Implements POST and DELETE methods for chat operations.
    • Integrates various tools like document creation, weather fetching, and suggestion requests.
  • Quality:
    • The code is extensive but well-organized into sections handling different functionalities.
    • Error handling is present but could be improved with more specific error messages or logging mechanisms.
    • The use of async/await with proper error catching demonstrates good asynchronous programming practices.
    • Security checks are in place (e.g., session validation), ensuring that unauthorized access is prevented.

4. db/queries.ts

  • Purpose: Contains database query functions for interacting with the application's data layer.
  • Structure:
    • Provides functions for CRUD operations on users, chats, messages, documents, and suggestions.
  • Quality:
    • The code uses try-catch blocks effectively to handle potential database errors.
    • SQL queries are constructed using a query builder (drizzle-orm), which enhances readability and security against SQL injection attacks.
    • Logging errors with descriptive messages aids in debugging but could benefit from more detailed information about the error context.

5. components/custom/chat-header.tsx

  • Purpose: Renders the chat header component with navigation and model selection features.
  • Structure:
    • Includes elements like sidebar toggle, new chat button, and model selector.
  • Quality:
    • The component is responsive, adapting to different screen sizes using conditional rendering based on window width.
    • Uses hooks (useRouter, useWindowSize) effectively to manage navigation and layout adjustments.
    • The code follows React best practices with clear separation of concerns and minimal inline styles.

6. components/custom/message-actions.tsx

  • Purpose: Provides UI actions for messages such as copying content and voting (upvote/downvote).
  • Structure:
    • Utilizes tooltips for user guidance and feedback mechanisms like toast notifications.
  • Quality:
    • The component handles user interactions efficiently with debounced actions to prevent spamming requests (e.g., voting).
    • Proper use of SWR for data revalidation ensures UI consistency without unnecessary network requests.
    • Conditional rendering prevents actions on certain message types (e.g., user's own messages), enhancing UX.

7. lib/editor/diff.js

  • Purpose: Implements functionality to show differences between document versions at a sentence level.
  • Structure:
    • Uses external libraries (diff-match-patch) for diffing logic and ProseMirror nodes for document representation.
  • Quality:
    • The code is complex but modularized into functions handling specific tasks like node matching and patching.
    • Sentence-level diffing provides a more granular view of changes, which can be beneficial for document editing applications.
    • Some utility functions lack implementation details (e.g., computeChildEqualityFactor), suggesting areas for further development or documentation.

Overall, the source code across these files demonstrates good practices in TypeScript usage, React component design, API route handling, database interaction, and document diffing. Each file serves its purpose effectively within the larger application architecture.

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Repo Commits Analysis

Development Team and Recent Activity

Team Members and Their Activities:

Jeremy (jeremyphilemon)

  • Recent Work:
    • Implemented various features such as truncating long emails in the sidebar, removing blocks as a model, persisting auth spinner, renaming components to blocks, and updating primary color palettes.
    • Fixed bugs related to database queries, chat routing, and UI elements.
    • Worked on enhancing the user interface with tweaks to styles, tooltips, and input autofocus.
    • Added new functionalities like message actions, voting mechanisms, and local storage for input text.
    • Collaborated on branches like live, jrmy/truncate-emails, jrmy/blocks-automatically, among others.

Jared Palmer (jaredpalmer)

  • Recent Work:
    • Focused on fixing TypeScript errors, improving build processes, and refining agent-related functionalities.
    • Worked on integrating Next.js updates and improving sidebar designs.
    • Collaborated on branches such as jp/assistants, jp/new-shadcn-sidebar, and jp/next-15.

Shadcn

  • Recent Work:
    • Contributed fixes related to sidebar cookie handling.

Jude Gao (gaojude)

  • Recent Work:
    • Worked on middleware rewrite prototypes focusing on navigation fixes.

Patterns, Themes, and Conclusions:

  • High Activity from Jeremy: Jeremy is the most active contributor with numerous commits across multiple branches. His work spans feature implementation, bug fixes, UI enhancements, and code refactoring.

  • Focus on UI/UX Improvements: There is a significant focus on improving the user interface and experience. This includes style tweaks, component renaming for clarity, and adding tooltips for better usability.

  • Collaboration Across Branches: Both Jeremy and Jared have been actively merging changes from the main branch into their respective feature branches, indicating a collaborative approach to integrating new features and fixes.

  • Continuous Integration of Updates: The team is actively integrating updates from Next.js and other dependencies to keep the project up-to-date with the latest technologies.

  • Feature Expansion: New features such as message actions, predictive outputs for document edits, and local storage for inputs suggest an ongoing effort to expand the chatbot's capabilities.

Overall, the development team is actively engaged in enhancing the functionality and user experience of the AI chatbot while ensuring code quality through regular updates and bug fixes.