Nightowl

A streaming AI chat app for late-night builders. Dark-first, fast, and it works with zero API keys.

Built with Next.js, React, Drizzle ORM, and SQLite (libsql). Shipped as a Moonshift launch template.

What you get

• Streaming chat UI: token-by-token rendering, typing indicator, auto-scroll, Enter to send and Shift+Enter for newlines.
• Persistent conversations: conversations and messages tables via Drizzle, sidebar with history, new chat, and delete.
• Provider key slot with graceful fallback: set OPENAI_API_KEY and replies stream live from OpenAI. Leave it empty and a built-in demo responder streams canned-but-charming replies, so the template demos perfectly with no setup.
• Configurable system prompt: a settings drawer with presets, persisted per browser.
• Auth-ready: Better Auth login/signup pages are wired up but chat does not require an account.

Quickstart

bun install
bun dev

Open http://localhost:3000. That is the entire setup: database tables are created automatically on first request, and demo mode needs no keys.

Going live with OpenAI

cp .env.example .env
# paste your key into OPENAI_API_KEY, then restart
bun dev

Optionally set OPENAI_MODEL (defaults to gpt-4o-mini).

Where things live

Path	Purpose
app/chat/	The chat application
app/api/chat/route.ts	Streaming endpoint (OpenAI or demo responder)
app/api/conversations/	Conversation list / history / delete
lib/db/domain.ts	Drizzle schema for conversations and messages
lib/db/ensure.ts	Idempotent table creation + welcome seed
lib/chat/demo.ts	The hand-written demo responder
lib/chat/prompt.ts	Default system prompt and presets

Scripts

• bun dev: start the dev server
• bun run build: production build
• bun run db:push: push schema with drizzle-kit (optional; the app self-bootstraps)