Is Chatbot by Vercel a hosted SaaS product?

No, it is a free, open-source Next.js template distributed through the Vercel AI SDK ecosystem. Users must handle their own hosting costs and AI provider API usage.

Which AI model providers are supported?

The template is provider-agnostic via the Vercel AI SDK, allowing developers to wire it to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Groq, Mistral, or self-hosted providers by swapping configuration lines.

Who is this tool designed for?

It is intended for product and platform engineers comfortable with TypeScript who want a modern codebase to fork for internal or customer-facing chatbots, rather than a no-code solution.

Does the template include tool-approval workflows?

Yes, it includes tool-approval workflows for gating agentic actions, along with theming and font customization hooks for branding.

Chatbot by Vercel

Open-source Next.js chatbot template built on the Vercel AI SDK

Free· Free and open-source (MIT-style). Users cover their own hosting costs (e.g. Vercel plan) and AI provider API usage.CodingProvider-agnostic via the Vercel AI SDK (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Groq, Mistral, and others configurable)

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In short

This tool is a free, open-source Next.js template that provides a batteries-included starting point for building conversational AI applications. It is best for product engineers who want a provider-agnostic codebase to fork, avoiding the need to assemble streaming, auth, and tool-calling from scratch.

Best for

Product and platform engineers who want a modern, provider-agnostic Next.js codebase to fork as the foundation of an internal or customer-facing chatbot, rather than assembling streaming, auth, and tool-calling from scratch.

Skip if

Non-technical users, teams looking for a hosted no-code chatbot builder, or anyone who wants a turnkey SaaS with billing, analytics, and support included out of the box.

Chatbot by Vercel is a free, open-source Next.js template for building production-ready conversational AI applications. Distributed through the Vercel AI SDK ecosystem (ai-sdk.dev) and its companion GitHub repository (github.com/vercel/chatbot), it gives developers a batteries-included starting point rather than a hosted SaaS product. Out of the box the template ships with modern chat UX patterns such as streaming responses, message parts, resumable streams, reasoning traces, and artifacts (a side-panel for code, documents, or spreadsheets the model produces), along with theming, font customization, and tool-approval workflows for gating agentic actions. Because it is built on the Vercel AI SDK, the underlying model is pluggable: developers can wire it to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Groq, Mistral, or self-hosted providers by swapping a few lines of provider configuration, and can add tools, RAG retrieval, and auth on top. Typical audiences include product engineers who need an internal Copilot-style assistant, startups prototyping a customer-facing chatbot, and hobbyists who want a serious codebase to fork instead of assembling one from scratch. Common workflows are: deploy to Vercel with a one-click template, add an API key for the chosen LLM provider, then extend it with domain-specific tools, retrieval, and branding. It is not a no-code product and it is not a hosted chatbot service, but for teams comfortable in TypeScript it removes weeks of scaffolding around auth, persistence, streaming, and multi-modal input.

Editor's take

This is the reference chatbot codebase a lot of teams end up cloning anyway, just officially maintained. If you are building on the Vercel AI SDK it is close to a no-brainer starting point; the artifacts panel, resumable streams, and tool-approval scaffolding are exactly the pieces most teams underinvest in. Just remember it is a template you have to operate, not a product you buy.

— The AI Tool Bible editorial team

Pros

✅ Free and open-source under a permissive license, with an active repo maintained by Vercel
✅ Provider-agnostic through the Vercel AI SDK, so you can swap between OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Groq, and others
✅ Ships with modern UX patterns most teams reinvent: streaming, reasoning traces, artifacts panel, resumable streams, message parts
✅ One-click deploy to Vercel plus a clean Next.js App Router codebase that is straightforward to fork and extend
✅ Includes tool-approval workflows and theming hooks, so agentic actions and branding are first-class rather than bolt-ons
✅ Serves as the reference implementation for the AI SDK, so it tracks new SDK features quickly

Cons

⚠️ It is a template, not a hosted product; you own deployment, scaling, auth, and observability
⚠️ Requires TypeScript, Next.js, and general web-app operations knowledge to customize seriously
⚠️ You pay for underlying model API usage separately, and costs can surprise teams that ship without guardrails
⚠️ Opinionated toward the Vercel deployment target; running it elsewhere works but loses some conveniences
⚠️ Documentation lives across the repo, AI SDK docs, and blog posts rather than in one polished product manual

Use cases

Internal engineering copilotCustomer-facing support chatbotRAG-backed knowledge assistantAgentic tool-using assistantMulti-provider LLM evaluation harnessPrototype for a startup MVP chatbotReference implementation for the Vercel AI SDKWhite-labelled branded assistant

Frequently asked

Is Chatbot by Vercel a hosted SaaS product?: No, it is a free, open-source Next.js template distributed through the Vercel AI SDK ecosystem. Users must handle their own hosting costs and AI provider API usage.
Which AI model providers are supported?: The template is provider-agnostic via the Vercel AI SDK, allowing developers to wire it to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Groq, Mistral, or self-hosted providers by swapping configuration lines.
What features are included in the template out of the box?: It ships with modern chat UX patterns including streaming responses, message parts, resumable streams, reasoning traces, and an artifacts side-panel for code or documents.
Who is this tool designed for?: It is intended for product and platform engineers comfortable with TypeScript who want a modern codebase to fork for internal or customer-facing chatbots, rather than a no-code solution.
Does the template include tool-approval workflows?: Yes, it includes tool-approval workflows for gating agentic actions, along with theming and font customization hooks for branding.