React Chatbot

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structure

About 601 wordsAbout 2 min

2025-08-28

This document explains the organization of the React chatbot project and the purpose of each folder and file.

Root Directory

react-chatbot/
├── public/
├── src/
├── .env
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
├── package.json
├── tailwind.config.js
├── tsconfig.json
└── vite.config.ts

Source Code Structure

src/
├── components/          # React components
│   ├── ui/             # Reusable UI components
│   ├── chat/           # Chat-specific components
│   └── layout/         # Layout components
├── hooks/              # Custom React hooks
├── services/           # API and external services
├── types/              # TypeScript type definitions
├── utils/              # Utility functions
├── store/              # State management
├── App.tsx             # Main application component
├── main.tsx            # Application entry point
└── index.css           # Global styles

Detailed Breakdown

/components

Reusable React components organized by functionality.

/components/ui/

Basic UI components that can be used throughout the application:

  • Button.tsx - Reusable button component
  • Input.tsx - Form input component
  • Loading.tsx - Loading spinner component
  • Modal.tsx - Modal dialog component
  • Toast.tsx - Notification component

/components/chat/

Chat-specific components:

  • ChatContainer.tsx - Main chat interface
  • MessageList.tsx - Displays conversation messages
  • MessageItem.tsx - Individual message component
  • MessageInput.tsx - Input for new messages
  • ChatHeader.tsx - Chat header with title and actions
  • TypingIndicator.tsx - Shows when AI is typing

/components/layout/

Layout and structural components:

  • Header.tsx - Application header
  • Footer.tsx - Application footer
  • Sidebar.tsx - Side navigation (if needed)
  • Layout.tsx - Main layout wrapper

/hooks

Custom React hooks for reusable logic:

  • useChat.ts - Chat state management
  • useOpenAI.ts - OpenAI API integration
  • useLocalStorage.ts - Local storage utilities
  • useDebounce.ts - Debounce utility
  • useTheme.ts - Theme management

/services

External service integrations:

  • openai.ts - OpenAI API client
  • storage.ts - Local storage service
  • api.ts - General API utilities

/types

TypeScript type definitions:

  • chat.ts - Chat-related types
  • api.ts - API response types
  • ui.ts - UI component types
  • index.ts - Re-export all types

/utils

Utility functions and helpers:

  • formatDate.ts - Date formatting utilities
  • validation.ts - Input validation
  • constants.ts - Application constants
  • helpers.ts - General helper functions

/store

State management (if using external state management):

  • chatStore.ts - Chat state store
  • settingsStore.ts - Application settings
  • index.ts - Store configuration

Key Files

App.tsx

Main application component that orchestrates the entire app:

import React from 'react'
import { ChatContainer } from './components/chat/ChatContainer'
import { Header } from './components/layout/Header'
import { Footer } from './components/layout/Footer'
import { Toaster } from 'react-hot-toast'

function App() {
  return (
    <div className="min-h-screen bg-gray-50">
      <Header />
      <main className="container mx-auto px-4 py-8">
        <ChatContainer />
      </main>
      <Footer />
      <Toaster position="top-right" />
    </div>
  )
}

export default App

main.tsx

Application entry point:

import React from 'react'
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom/client'
import App from './App'
import './index.css'

ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(
  <React.StrictMode>
    <App />
  </React.StrictMode>
)

Configuration Files

tailwind.config.js

Tailwind CSS configuration with custom theme:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  content: ["./src/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}"],
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        primary: { /* custom colors */ },
        gray: { /* custom grays */ }
      },
      animation: { /* custom animations */ }
    }
  },
  plugins: [/* plugins */]
}

tsconfig.json

TypeScript configuration:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "useDefineForClassFields": true,
    "lib": ["ES2020", "DOM", "DOM.Iterable"],
    "module": "ESNext",
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "allowImportingTsExtensions": true,
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "strict": true,
    "noUnusedLocals": true,
    "noUnusedParameters": true,
    "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true
  },
  "include": ["src"],
  "references": [{ "path": "./tsconfig.node.json" }]
}

vite.config.ts

Vite build configuration:

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

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react()],
  server: {
    port: 5173,
    open: true
  },
  build: {
    outDir: 'dist',
    sourcemap: true
  }
})

Environment Variables

.env

VITE_OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here
VITE_OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-3.5-turbo
VITE_MAX_TOKENS=1000
VITE_TEMPERATURE=0.7

Best Practices

  1. Component Organization: Keep components small and focused
  2. File Naming: Use PascalCase for components, camelCase for utilities
  3. Import Structure: Group imports by type (React, third-party, local)
  4. Type Safety: Use TypeScript for all new code
  5. Consistent Styling: Follow Tailwind CSS conventions
  6. Error Handling: Implement proper error boundaries and loading states

Next Steps

Now that you understand the project structure, proceed to: