Step 2: Setup CopilotKit

Now that we have our todo list app running, we're ready to integrate CopilotKit. For this tutorial, we will install the following dependencies:

@copilotkit/react-core: The core library for CopilotKit, which contains the CopilotKit provider and useful hooks.
@copilotkit/react-ui: The UI library for CopilotKit, which contains the CopilotKit UI components such as the sidebar, chat popup, textare and more.

Install Dependencies

To install the CopilotKit dependencies, run the following:

npm install @copilotkit/react-core @copilotkit/react-ui

Setup CopilotKit

Set up Copilot Runtime Endpoint

Add your OpenAI API key to your .env file in the root of your project:

.env

OPENAI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Please note that the code below uses GPT-4o, which requires a paid OpenAI API key. If you are using a free OpenAI API key, change the model to a different option such as gpt-3.5-turbo.

Endpoint Setup

Create a new route to handle the /api/copilotkit endpoint.

app/api/copilotkit/route.ts

import {
  CopilotRuntime,
  OpenAIAdapter,
  copilotRuntimeNextJSAppRouterEndpoint,
} from '@copilotkit/runtime';
import OpenAI from 'openai';
import { NextRequest } from 'next/server';
 
const openai = new OpenAI({ apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY });
const serviceAdapter = new OpenAIAdapter({ openai });
const runtime = new CopilotRuntime();
 
export const POST = async (req: NextRequest) => {
  const { handleRequest } = copilotRuntimeNextJSAppRouterEndpoint({
    runtime,
    serviceAdapter,
    endpoint: '/api/copilotkit',
  });
 
  return handleRequest(req);
};

Your Copilot Runtime endpoint should be available at http://localhost:3000/api/copilotkit.

Configure the CopilotKit Provider

app/page.tsx

"use client";
 
import { TasksList } from "@/components/TasksList";
import { TasksProvider } from "@/lib/hooks/use-tasks";
import { CopilotKit } from "@copilotkit/react-core"; 
 
export default function Home() {
  return (
    <CopilotKit runtimeUrl="/api/copilotkit">
      <TasksProvider>
        <TasksList />
      </TasksProvider>
    </CopilotKit> 
  );
}

We provide several plug-and-play components for you to interact with your copilot. Some of these are <CopilotPopup/>, <CopilotSidebar/>, and <CopilotChat/>. You can of course use CopilotKit in headless mode and provide your own fully custom UI via useCopilotChat.

In this tutorial, we'll use the <CopilotPopup/> component to display the chat popup.

app/page.tsx

"use client";
 
import { TasksList } from "@/components/TasksList";
import { TasksProvider } from "@/lib/hooks/use-tasks";
import { CopilotKit } from "@copilotkit/react-core";
import { CopilotPopup } from "@copilotkit/react-ui"; 
import "@copilotkit/react-ui/styles.css"; 
 
export default function Home() {
  return (
    <CopilotKit runtimeUrl="/api/copilotkit">
      <TasksProvider>
        <TasksList />
      </TasksProvider>
      <CopilotPopup />
    </CopilotKit>
  );
}

Here's what we did:

We imported the <CopilotPopup /> component from @copilotkit/react-ui.
We wrapped the page with the <CopilotKit> provider.
We imported the built-in styles from @copilotkit/react-ui. This is optional.

Now, head back to your app and you'll find a chat popup in the bottom right corner of the page. At this point, you can start interacting with your copilot! 🎉

In the next step, we'll make our assistant smarter by providing it with readable state about our todo list.