Getting started with React Chat UI component

1 Aug 20268 minutes to read

This section explains how to create a simple React Chat UI component and demonstrate its basic usage in a React environment.

Prerequisites

Requirement Version
React 15.5.4 or higher
Node.js 14.0.0 or above
Yarn (optional) 0.25 or above

React supported versions

React version Minimum Syncfusion React Chat UI version
React v19 29.1.33 and above
React v18 20.2.36 and above
React v17 18.3.50 and above
React v16 16.2.45 and above

Browser support

Browser Supported versions
Chrome Latest
Firefox Latest
Opera Latest
Edge 13+
Internet Explorer (IE) 11+
Safari 9+
iOS Safari 9+
Android Browser / Chrome for Android 4.4+
Windows Mobile IE 11+

Setup for local development

Easily set up a React application using create-vite-app, which provides a faster development environment, smaller bundle sizes, and optimized builds compared to traditional tools like create-react-app. For detailed steps, refer to the Vite installation instructions.

Note: To create a React application using create-react-app, refer to this documentation for more details.

To create a new React application, run one of the following commands based on your preferred language:

React with JavaScript

npx create-vite@latest my-app -- --template react

React with TypeScript

npx create-vite@latest my-app -- --template react-ts

During the setup process, the CLI will prompt you for a few configuration options. Select the following:

  • Which linter to use? → ESLint
  • Install with npm and start now? → Yes

Selecting Yes automatically installs the project dependencies and starts the development server.

After verifying that the application starts successfully, terminate the development server in the terminal and proceed to the next step.

Then, navigate to the project directory:

cd my-app

Adding React Chat UI packages

To install the Chat UI package, use the following command:

npm install @syncfusion/ej2-react-interactive-chat --save

Adding CSS reference

Themes for Syncfusion® Chat UI component can be applied using CSS files provided through npm theme packages. For available themes, refer to the Themes documentation.

Install the Tailwind 3 theme package using the following command:

npm install @syncfusion/ej2-tailwind3-theme --save

Then add the following CSS reference to the src/App.css file:

@import "../node_modules/@syncfusion/ej2-tailwind3-theme/styles/chat-ui/index.css";

Adding Chat UI component

The AI AssistView code should be added to the src/App.tsx file.

To configure the current user in the Chat UI, use the user property. This property defines the current user information for the chat interface.

import { ChatUIComponent, MessagesDirective, MessageDirective, UserModel } from '@syncfusion/ej2-react-interactive-chat';

function App() {
    const currentUserModel: UserModel = {
        id: "user1",
        user: "Albert"
    };

    const michaleUserModel: UserModel = {
        id: "user2",
        user: "Michale Suyama"
    };

    return (
        // specifies the tag for render the Chat UI component
        <ChatUIComponent user={currentUserModel} >
            <MessagesDirective>
                <MessageDirective text="Hi Michale, are we on track for the deadline?" author={currentUserModel} ></MessageDirective>
                <MessageDirective text="Yes, the design phase is complete." author={michaleUserModel} ></MessageDirective>
                <MessageDirective text="I’ll review it and send feedback by today." author={currentUserModel} ></MessageDirective>
            </MessagesDirective>
        </ChatUIComponent>
    );
}

export default App;
import { ChatUIComponent, MessagesDirective, MessageDirective } from '@syncfusion/ej2-react-interactive-chat';

function App() {
    const currentUserModel = {
        id: "user1",
        user: "Albert"
    };

    const michaleUserModel = {
        id: "user2",
        user: "Michale Suyama"
    };


    return (
        // specifies the tag for render the Chat UI component
        <ChatUIComponent user={currentUserModel}>
            <MessagesDirective>
                <MessageDirective text="Hi Michale, are we on track for the deadline?" author={currentUserModel} ></MessageDirective>
                <MessageDirective text="Yes, the design phase is complete." author={michaleUserModel} ></MessageDirective>
                <MessageDirective text="I’ll review it and send feedback by today." author={currentUserModel} ></MessageDirective>
            </MessagesDirective>
        </ChatUIComponent>
    );
}

export default App;

Run the application

After completing the basic configuration, run the following command to display the Chat UI component in your default browser:

npm run dev

Registering your Syncfusion license

Generate a license key from the Syncfusion License Dashboard and register it before rendering your React application:

import { registerLicense } from '@syncfusion/ej2-base';

registerLicense('YOUR_LICENSE_KEY');

Note: A valid Syncfusion license is required for production use. Without a valid license, a trial license warning message will be displayed.

Production build

To create an optimized production build:

npm run build

Preview the production build locally:

npm run preview

Troubleshooting

  • Chat UI not rendering styles: Ensure the theme CSS is imported in App.css and that you removed the default Vite CSS in index.css.
  • Trial license warning banner: Register a license key via registerLicense() from @syncfusion/ej2-base.
  • Port 5173 already in use: Stop the conflicting process or run Vite on a different port with npm run dev -- --port 3000.