Next.js 14 and GPT-4o: Build a Chat App

What We’re Building

In this tutorial, we will build a chat application using Next.js 14 and integrate it with OpenAI’s GPT-4o model. The application will allow users to have real-time conversations with an AI, leveraging the advanced capabilities of the GPT-4o model for generating human-like responses.

The finished project will feature a user-friendly interface where users can send messages and receive responses powered by GPT-4o. This application will demonstrate how to effectively use Next.js’ App Router and React’s concurrent features for building responsive and scalable applications.

Setup and Installation

We’ll begin by setting up a new Next.js project and installing the necessary dependencies for our application, including the OpenAI SDK for accessing GPT-4o.

npx create-next-app@latest my-chat-app
cd my-chat-app
npm install @openai/openai
npm install tailwindcss@latest postcss@latest autoprefixer@latest
npx tailwindcss init -p

Next, we’ll configure our environment variables. These are crucial for storing sensitive information such as your OpenAI API key.

# .env.local
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key

Ensure that your `.env.local` file is included in your `.gitignore` to prevent sensitive information from being exposed in your version control.

Step 1: Setting Up the API Route

To interact with the OpenAI API, we’ll set up an API route in Next.js. This will handle requests from our frontend and communicate with the OpenAI API.

// app/api/chat/route.js
import { OpenAI } from 'openai';export async function POST(request) {
const { message } = await request.json();
const client = new OpenAI(process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY);try {
const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
...
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