Realtime DevAlgoChatApp

DevStudio (DevAlgoChat) is a real-time collaboration platform for developers, built around three modes in a single room: Build (collaborative code sandbox with an AI assistant), Call (voice/video), and Ship (chat and room coordination).

Every account is authenticated through Clerk. Any signed-in user with a verified email and an unbanned account gets full access to the product — there are no paid tiers or feature gates. Administrators (configured via an allowlist of Clerk user IDs) can search for accounts and ban or restore access.

Structure

This is a pnpm monorepo. The product is split across three artifacts, each independently run and previewed:

  artifacts/
  api-server/       Express + Socket.IO backend (auth, rooms, moderation, AI assistant proxy)
  chat-app/         Expo/React Native app (iOS, Android, Web) — the DevStudio client
  mockup-sandbox/   Design/preview sandbox used while iterating on UI components

See the pnpm-workspace skill / pnpm-workspace.yaml for the full workspace layout and shared packages.

Stack

• Monorepo: pnpm workspaces, TypeScript
• Backend: Node.js, Express, Socket.IO, Pino logging
• Frontend: Expo (React Native + React Native Web), Expo Router
• Auth: Clerk (@clerk/express, @clerk/expo) — email/password with verified-email enforcement
• AI assistant: Anthropic, accessed only from the server (never exposed to the client)
• Realtime: Socket.IO rooms with signed, server-issued room capabilities

Running the app

Each artifact has its own workflow that starts automatically in the Replit preview pane. To run things manually:

# Backend API + Socket.IO server
pnpm --filter @workspace/api-server run dev

# Expo client (chat app)
pnpm --filter @workspace/chat-app run dev

Tests

pnpm --filter @workspace/api-server run test
pnpm --filter @workspace/chat-app run test

Typecheck / build

pnpm run typecheck
pnpm run build

Core features

• Accounts: Clerk-authenticated sign-up/sign-in, email verification, password reset via Clerk's email-code flow, editable display name and avatar emoji.
• Rooms: Create or join a room; each participant gets a signed, time-scoped capability token authorizing them for that room's chat, call, or sandbox.
• Ship (chat): Real-time messaging per room over Socket.IO.
• Call: Real-time voice/video within a room.
• Build (sandbox): Collaborative coding sandbox with an integrated AI assistant (server-mediated Anthropic access, rate-limited).
• Moderation: Admins can search for accounts by name or email, then ban or restore access. Bans are enforced everywhere — HTTP requests, socket connections/reconnects, and room capability issuance.

Environment & secrets

Secrets (Clerk keys, admin allowlist, session secret, Anthropic access) are managed through Replit's environment secrets — see the environment-secrets skill. They are never committed to the repository.

Notes for contributors

• Server-resolved Clerk identity always overrides any client-supplied identity claims.
• Room access is granted only via signed server-issued capabilities, not client-asserted room membership.
• See replit.md for project-specific conventions and decisions as they're recorded.

RealtimeAlgoChatApp

DevStudio (DevAlgoChat) is a real-time collaboration platform for developers, built around three modes in a single room: Build (collaborative code sandbox with an AI assistant), Call (voice/video), and Ship (chat and room coordination).

Every account is authenticated through Clerk. Any signed-in user with a verified email and an unbanned account gets full access to the product — there are no paid tiers or feature gates. Administrators (configured via an allowlist of Clerk user IDs) can search for accounts and ban or restore access.

Author

Lisa M Gorewit-Decker