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Gemini AI Chatbot Setup Guide

🚀 Quick Setup

1. Get Your Gemini API Key

  1. Visit Google AI Studio
  2. Sign in with your Google account
  3. Click "Create API Key"
  4. Copy the generated API key

2. Configure the Environment

Create a file called .env in the server folder with this content:

# Gemini API Configuration
GEMINI_API_KEY=your-actual-gemini-api-key-here

# Server Configuration
PORT=3001
NODE_ENV=development

Replace your-actual-gemini-api-key-here with your real Gemini API key.

3. Install Dependencies

cd server
npm install

4. Start the Server

npm run dev

You should see:

✅ Gemini API key configured
🚀 Chatbot API server running on port 3001
🔗 Test your API key: http://localhost:3001/api/test

5. Test the Setup

curl http://localhost:3001/api/test

6. Start the Frontend

In another terminal:

npm run dev

🔧 What's Changed

  • ✅ Backend: Now uses Google's Gemini AI instead of OpenAI
  • ✅ API: Uses @google/generative-ai library
  • ✅ Authentication: Uses Gemini API key
  • ✅ Chat Format: Properly formatted for Gemini's chat API

🎯 Features

  • Context-Aware: AI understands the specific programming problem
  • Code Analysis: Can review and provide feedback on user code
  • Progressive Hints: Provides hints at different levels
  • Real-time Chat: Interactive conversation with the AI tutor

🚨 Troubleshooting

"Gemini API key not configured"

  • Make sure you created the .env file in the server folder
  • Verify your API key is correct
  • Check that the file is named exactly .env (with the dot)

"API key test failed"

  • Verify your Gemini API key is valid
  • Check your Google AI Studio account has sufficient quota
  • Ensure you're using the correct API key format

"CORS error"

  • The server is configured to accept requests from localhost:5173 and localhost:3000
  • If using a different port, update the CORS configuration in server/api/chatbot.js

🔗 Useful Links

💡 Tips

  • Gemini API keys are free to create
  • You get generous free tier usage
  • The API is generally faster than OpenAI
  • Supports multiple languages and code analysis