This tutorial teaches you to integrate Sendbird UIKit for React in your web application.

Image|Two UIKit views on the Light theme are shown: list of channels, chat view.

A list of channels and chat view using Sendbird UIKit for React.

What you'll learn

What you'll need

Before you start, you need the following:

Application ID

  1. Go to Sendbird Dashboard and create an account or sign in.
  2. Click Create + to create a new application.
  3. Enter a name, choose a Product Type and Region, then click Confirm.
  4. Note down the Application ID - you'll need this later.

Image|Screen showing application ID on Sendbird Dashboard.

User ID

Next, create a user in your Sendbird application:

  1. Go to the Users menu and click Create user+.
  2. Enter a User ID and Nickname. Check Issue access token for authentication.
  3. Click Create and copy the user ID for later use.

Image|Screen highlighting bot ID on Manage bots page on Sendbird Dashboard.

The easiest way to create a new React project is by using Vite. You can use either npm or yarn to create a new project.

Using npm

npm create vite uikit-react-example -- --template react-ts
cd uikit-react-example
npm install

Using yarn

yarn create vite uikit-react-example --template react-ts
cd uikit-react-example
yarn

You can install UIKit for React through npm or yarn.

Using npm

npm i @sendbird/uikit-react

Using yarn

yarn add @sendbird/uikit-react

You can now implement the chat interface to your web app using the App component from Sendbird UIKit. Replace the content in your App.tsx file with the following code:

import { App as SendbirdApp } from '@sendbird/uikit-react';
import '@sendbird/uikit-react/dist/index.css';

function App() {
  return (
    
    <div style={{ width:'100vw', height:'100vh' }}>
      {/* 
        This super smart component serves as a drop-in chat solution
        
        For advanced 🚀 customizations, use SendbirdProvider:
        https://sendbird.com/docs/chat/uikit/v3/react/essentials/sendbirdprovider
      */}
      <SendbirdApp
        appId={'YOUR_APP_ID'}
        userId={'USER_ID'}
        accessToken={'ACCESS_TOKEN'} // Optional, but recommended
      />
    </div>
  )
}

export default App;

Replace these values:

Note: You can find the user's Access token in the Sendbird Dashboard under your Application > Users > your user > Access token. For this tutorial, you are using the user access token as a way of authentication. For actual implementation, itt is highly recommended to refer to this authentication guide to implement a more secure way of authentication.

Now let's test the chat interface by sending a message.

Image|Two UIKit views on the Light theme are shown: list of channels, chat view.

  1. Run your application:
    npm run dev
    
    or
    yarn dev
    
  2. Create a group channel:
    • Click the icon in the top-left corner
    • Select users to invite
    • Click create
  3. Send a message:
    • Type your message in the input field
    • Press enter or click send

🎉 You've successfully:

  1. Created a React project with Sendbird UIKit
  2. Implemented a chat interface
  3. Sent your first message
  1. Check out our customization tutorials.
  1. Check out our Storybook for component examples.
  2. For a variety of additional code samples, check out our sample app.