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Scaffold the chat workspace

Every track starts with a real project on disk. In this chapter you create chat-app/ — a NetScript workspace with a Fresh frontend — add the streams runtime so durable chat sessions have somewhere to live, set your model key, and boot the whole thing under Aspire.

  1. 1 · Scaffold
  2. 2 · Durable chat route
  3. 3 · Chat UI
  4. 4 · Server-side tool call

What you will build

A chat-app/ workspace on disk: a Fresh app, the streams plugin wired for durable sessions, and Aspire orchestration. By the end the Aspire dashboard at :18888 shows every resource running, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY reaches the app process, and the workspace type-checks. You reuse this same workspace for every later chapter.

Before you begin

The only prerequisite is the toolchain from the track index plus an ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. Confirm the CLI is installed and reachable:

netscript --help

You should see the public command groups: init, contract, db, deploy, generate, marketplace, plugin, service, ui:add, and ui:init. If netscript is not found, make sure Deno's install directory is on your PATH and open a fresh terminal.

Step 1 — Preview the scaffold with a dry run

Before writing files, ask the CLI what it would create. --dry-run plans the scaffold and prints totals without touching disk:

netscript init chat-app --dry-run

A clean dry run confirms your flags are valid and is your green light to scaffold for real.

Step 2 — Create the workspace

Scaffold for real. This track does not need an example service — the chat route you write in chapter 2 is the only backend — so a plain Fresh workspace is enough:

netscript init chat-app
cd chat-app

This writes chat-app/, formats the output with deno fmt, and initializes a git repository. On completion the CLI prints a next steps summary tailored to your options.

Step 3 — Add the streams runtime

A durable chat session is one append-only stream, addressed through the streams runtime. Add the streams plugin so @netscript/fresh/ai has a runtime to resolve session URLs against:

netscript plugin add streams

Step 4 — Set your model key

The chat route calls Anthropic directly; the adapter reads ANTHROPIC_API_KEY from the app process environment. Put it where Aspire will inject it — your workspace's local environment file (never commit a real key):

# chat-app/.env  (add .env to .gitignore if it is not already)
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Step 5 — Bring up orchestration

Boot the whole thing under Aspire. Run it from the aspire/ subfolder so the CLI finds apphost.mts:

cd aspire
aspire restore   # once: restores the Aspire SDK modules into .aspire/
aspire start     # starts the AppHost, the streams runtime, and the Fresh app

aspire start prints a URL and login token for the Aspire dashboard:

https://localhost:18888

Leave aspire start running in this terminal; it is your control plane for the rest of the track.

Verify your progress

In a second terminal, type-check the whole workspace from the project root:

deno task check

A clean check confirms the scaffold and plugin wiring line up.

  • [ ] netscript --help lists the public command groups.
  • [ ] chat-app/ exists with apps/dashboard/ and a plugins/ entry for streams.
  • [ ] ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set in the app environment.
  • [ ] aspire start is up; the dashboard at :18888 lists the streams runtime and the Fresh app.
  • [ ] deno task check is clean.

What you built

A real NetScript workspace — chat-app/ — with a Fresh app, the streams runtime for durable sessions, and your model key wired to the app process, all orchestrated by Aspire. Next you will wire the durable chat route that turns a prompt into a persisted, streamed reply.