Quick Start

Set up a local workspace, create your first room variable and archive—no model key needed yet.

Prerequisites and source

You need Node 22, Corepack, and Git. The commands below use POSIX shell syntax and were checked on macOS.

Use a new checkout and a fresh docs-data directory for this walkthrough. The server seeds its initial rooms only when the database is empty, so starting from scratch avoids confusion.

git clone https://github.com/Golenspade/ai_tea-_party.git
cd ai_tea-_party
git checkout --detach 3177dd311461e7e2e2be50237997df534ca23c40
node --version
corepack [email protected] install --frozen-lockfile
mkdir -p docs-data

The locked install builds the approved better-sqlite3 native dependency. Warnings about other ignored build scripts do not mean you should approve every dependency. If a specific command fails, look at that failure first.

Start the backend

Keep this running in terminal A, from the repository root:

HOST=127.0.0.1 PORT=4318   DB_PATH="$PWD/docs-data/tea.db"   ARCHIVE_DIR="$PWD/docs-data/archives"   corepack [email protected] --filter ai-tea-party-backend exec tsx src/index.ts

Open another terminal and run curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:4318/api/health. You should get JSON with status equal to healthy. The chosen database and archive directories keep tutorial records together. No provider key is needed for this first workflow.

Start the browser interface

In terminal B, also from the repository root:

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:4318   NEXT_PUBLIC_WS_BASE_URL=ws://127.0.0.1:4318   corepack [email protected] --filter ai-tea-party-frontend dev --hostname 127.0.0.1 --port 3001

Open http://127.0.0.1:3001. The page title says "Index Rerum." and the sidebar lists the default characters, VARIABLES, and ARCHIVE. The first page compilation may take several seconds. Keep both terminals running.

Create your first persistent result

In VARIABLES, leave Scope as Room and Op as set.
Enter danger for Name and 0 for Value, then click 执行.
Confirm danger 0 appears in the Room list and room status area.
Click Archive in the ARCHIVE panel.
Confirm a new archive entry with a timestamp appears. Reloading the page should preserve both the variable and the archive.

This verifies local state and archiving, not model dialogue. Do not click Commence Auto-Dialogue, Speak, or Compact just to check installation—those controls belong to the model workflow. Continue with Rooms and dialogue when you are ready to configure it.

Stop and return later

Stop each server with Control-C in its terminal. To resume the same workspace, restart with the same absolute DB_PATH and ARCHIVE_DIR. Keep the database and archives together—a database record alone cannot recreate a missing archive file.

Templates shows how to export a reusable setup.