ChatbotAI

A full-stack chatbot demo with real-time streaming answers in the style of your chosen character (Rick, Yoda, Sherlock, Socrates) using shapeshifter-mcp as the backend AI engine.

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Features

• Character-based AI: Choose a character and get answers in their style (via Perplexity API, streamed chunk by chunk)
• Modern stack: Angular 19 frontend, .NET 9 backend, SignalR for real-time streaming
• Session & history: Persistent chat sessions, message ratings, and full chat history
• Easy switching: Add new characters or swap out the AI backend easily

Quickstart

1. Start the MCP backend

Clone and run shapeshifter-mcp (Node.js, see its README for setup and Perplexity API key):

cd shapeshifter-mcp
npm install
npm run dev

2. Start the .NET backend

cd backend/src/ChatbotAI.API
# Set up your DB connection string in appsettings.json
# Apply migrations (first time only):
dotnet ef database update --project ../ChatbotAI.Infrastructure/ChatbotAI.Infrastructure.csproj --startup-project ChatbotAI.API.csproj
# Run the API
 dotnet run

3. Start the Angular frontend

cd frontend/chatbot-ai
npm install
npm start

• Frontend: http://localhost:4200
• Backend API: http://localhost:5225
• MCP: http://localhost:3000

How it works

• You pick a character and type a question.
• The backend streams your question to shapeshifter-mcp, which calls Perplexity and returns the answer chunk by chunk in the style of your chosen character.
• The frontend displays the answer as it streams in, with full session history and rating support.