UI Kit Builder Integration

The UI Kit Builder simplifies integrating CometChat’s UI Kit into your Next.js application — quickly set up chat, customize UI elements, and add features without extensive coding.

Complete Integration Workflow

Design Your Chat Experience - Use the UI Kit Builder to customize layouts, features, and styling.
Review and Export - Review which features will be enabled in your Dashboard, toggle them on/off, and download the generated code package.
Preview Customizations - Optionally, preview the chat experience before integrating it into your project.
Integration - Integrate into your existing application.
Customize Further - Explore advanced customization options to tailor the chat experience.

Launch the UI Kit Builder

Log in to your CometChat Dashboard.
Select your application from the list.
Navigate to Chat & Messaging → Get Started.
Choose your platform and click Launch UI Kit Builder.

Review Your Export

When you click Export, a “Review Your Export” modal appears (Step 1 of 3). This lets you:

Review features — See which features will be enabled in your CometChat Dashboard based on your UI Kit configuration
Toggle features — Turn individual features on/off before export
AI User Copilot — Requires an OpenAI API key (you’ll configure this in the next step)

Only checked features will be enabled in your Dashboard. You can always modify these settings later in the CometChat Dashboard.

Preview Customizations (Optional)

Before integrating the UI Kit Builder into your project, you can preview the chat experience by following these steps. This step is completely optional and can be skipped if you want to directly integrate the UI Kit Builder into your project.

You can preview the experience:

Open the cometchat-app-react folder.

Install dependencies:
npm i
Run the app:
npm start
Your app credentials are already prepopulated in the exported code.

Integrate into Your Project

Step 1: Install Dependencies

npm install @cometchat/chat-uikit-react@6.3.11 @cometchat/calls-sdk-javascript

Step 2: Copy CometChat Folder

Copy the cometchat-app-react/src/CometChat folder inside your src/app directory.

Step 3: Create & Initialize `CometChatNoSSR.tsx`

Directory Structure:

src/app/
├── CometChat/
└── CometChatNoSSR/
    └── CometChatNoSSR.tsx

src/app/CometChatNoSSR/CometChatNoSSR.tsx

import React, { useEffect } from "react";
import {
  CometChatUIKit,
  UIKitSettingsBuilder,
} from "@cometchat/chat-uikit-react";
import CometChatApp from "../CometChat/CometChatApp";
import { CometChatProvider } from "../CometChat/context/CometChatContext";
import { setupLocalization } from "../CometChat/utils/utils";

export const COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS = {
  APP_ID: "YOUR_APP_ID", // Replace with your App ID
  REGION: "YOUR_REGION", // Replace with your App Region
  AUTH_KEY: "YOUR_AUTH_KEY", // Replace with your Auth Key or leave blank if you are authenticating using Auth Token
};

const CometChatNoSSR: React.FC = () => {
  useEffect(() => {
    const UIKitSettings = new UIKitSettingsBuilder()
      .setAppId(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.APP_ID)
      .setRegion(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.REGION)
      .setAuthKey(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.AUTH_KEY)
      .subscribePresenceForAllUsers()
      .build();

    CometChatUIKit.init(UIKitSettings)
      ?.then(() => {
        setupLocalization();
        console.log("Initialization completed successfully");
      })
      .catch((error) => console.error("Initialization failed", error));
  }, []);

  return (
    <div style={{ width: "100vw", height: "100vh" }}>
      <CometChatProvider>
        <CometChatApp />
      </CometChatProvider>
    </div>
  );
};

export default CometChatNoSSR;

Your app credentials (APP_ID, AUTH_KEY, REGION) are prepopulated in the exported code. If you need to use different credentials, you can find them in the Credentials block of your app’s Overview section on the CometChat Dashboard.

Step 4: User Authentication

CometChat uses a UID (User ID) to identify each user. After initialization, authenticate users to enable chat functionality. You can either:

Create new users on the CometChat Dashboard, CometChat SDK Method or via the API.
Use pre-generated test users: cometchat-uid-1 through cometchat-uid-5

The Login method returns a User object containing all relevant details of the logged-in user. Login After Initialization Log in the user after initialization — useful when login happens later in your app flow (e.g., after a login form).

TypeScript
JavaScript

import { CometChatUIKit } from "@cometchat/chat-uikit-react";

const UID = "YOUR_UID"; // Replace with your actual UID

CometChatUIKit.getLoggedinUser().then((user: CometChat.User | null) => {
  if (!user) {
    // If no user is logged in, proceed with login
    CometChatUIKit.login(UID)
      .then((user: CometChat.User) => {
        console.log("Login Successful:", { user });
        // Mount your app
      })
      .catch(console.log);
  } else {
    // If user is already logged in, mount your app
  }
});

import { CometChatUIKit } from "@cometchat/chat-uikit-react";

const UID = "YOUR_UID"; // Replace with your actual UID

CometChatUIKit.getLoggedinUser().then((user) => {
  if (!user) {
    // If no user is logged in, proceed with login
    CometChatUIKit.login(UID)
      .then((user) => {
        console.log("Login Successful:", { user });
        // Mount your app
      })
      .catch(console.log);
  } else {
    // If user is already logged in, mount your app
  }
});

Login During Initialization Alternatively, log in the user immediately inside CometChatUIKit.init() — ideal for apps that authenticate on startup.

TypeScript
JavaScript

import React, { useEffect } from "react";
import {
  CometChatUIKit,
  UIKitSettingsBuilder,
} from "@cometchat/chat-uikit-react";
import CometChatApp from "../CometChat/CometChatApp";
import { CometChatProvider } from "../CometChat/context/CometChatContext";
import { setupLocalization } from "../CometChat/utils/utils";

export const COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS = {
  APP_ID: "YOUR_APP_ID", // Replace with your App ID
  REGION: "YOUR_REGION", // Replace with your App Region
  AUTH_KEY: "YOUR_AUTH_KEY", // Replace with your Auth Key or leave blank if you are authenticating using Auth Token
};

const CometChatNoSSR: React.FC = () => {
  useEffect(() => {
    const UIKitSettings = new UIKitSettingsBuilder()
      .setAppId(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.APP_ID)
      .setRegion(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.REGION)
      .setAuthKey(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.AUTH_KEY)
      .subscribePresenceForAllUsers()
      .build();

    CometChatUIKit.init(UIKitSettings)
      ?.then(() => {
        setupLocalization();
        console.log("Initialization completed successfully");

        const UID = "YOUR_UID"; // Replace with your actual UID

        CometChatUIKit.getLoggedinUser().then((user: CometChat.User | null) => {
          if (!user) {
            // If no user is logged in, proceed with login
            CometChatUIKit.login(UID)
              .then((loggedInUser: CometChat.User) => {
                console.log("Login Successful:", loggedInUser);
                // Mount your app or perform post-login actions if needed
              })
              .catch((error) => {
                console.error("Login failed:", error);
              });
          } else {
            console.log("User already logged in:", user);
          }
        });
      })
      .catch((error) => console.error("Initialization failed", error));
  }, []);

  return (
    <div style={{ width: "100vw", height: "100vh" }}>
      <CometChatProvider>
        <CometChatApp />
      </CometChatProvider>
    </div>
  );
};

export default CometChatNoSSR;

import React, { useEffect } from "react";
import {
  CometChatUIKit,
  UIKitSettingsBuilder,
} from "@cometchat/chat-uikit-react";
import CometChatApp from "../CometChat/CometChatApp";
import { CometChatProvider } from "../CometChat/context/CometChatContext";
import { setupLocalization } from "../CometChat/utils/utils";

export const COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS = {
  APP_ID: "YOUR_APP_ID", // Replace with your App ID
  REGION: "YOUR_REGION", // Replace with your App Region
  AUTH_KEY: "YOUR_AUTH_KEY", // Replace with your Auth Key or leave blank if you are authenticating using Auth Token
};

const CometChatNoSSR = () => {
  useEffect(() => {
    const UIKitSettings = new UIKitSettingsBuilder()
      .setAppId(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.APP_ID)
      .setRegion(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.REGION)
      .setAuthKey(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.AUTH_KEY)
      .subscribePresenceForAllUsers()
      .build();

    CometChatUIKit.init(UIKitSettings)
      ?.then(() => {
        setupLocalization();
        console.log("Initialization completed successfully");

        const UID = "YOUR_UID"; // Replace with your actual UID

        CometChatUIKit.getLoggedinUser().then((user) => {
          if (!user) {
            // If no user is logged in, proceed with login
            CometChatUIKit.login(UID)
              .then((loggedInUser) => {
                console.log("Login Successful:", loggedInUser);
                // Mount your app or perform post-login actions if needed
              })
              .catch((error) => {
                console.error("Login failed:", error);
              });
          } else {
            console.log("User already logged in:", user);
          }
        });
      })
      .catch((error) => console.error("Initialization failed", error));
  }, []);

  return (
    <div style={{ width: "100vw", height: "100vh" }}>
      <CometChatProvider>
        <CometChatApp />
      </CometChatProvider>
    </div>
  );
};

export default CometChatNoSSR;

Auth Key vs Auth TokenAuth Key is perfect for prototyping. For production apps, switch to Auth Token for secure authentication. See Authentication and User Management for details.

Step 5: Disable SSR & Render CometChat Component

In this step, we’ll render the CometChatApp component and specifically disable Server-Side Rendering (SSR) for CometChatNoSSR.tsx. This targeted approach ensures the CometChat UI Kit Builder components load only on the client side, while the rest of your application remains fully compatible with SSR.

Create a Wrapper File: Add a new file that houses the CometChatApp component.
Dynamically Import CometChatNoSSR.tsx: In this file, use dynamic imports with { ssr: false } to disable SSR only for the CometChat component, preventing SSR-related issues but preserving SSR for the rest of your code.

"use client";
import dynamic from "next/dynamic";

// Dynamically import CometChat component with SSR disabled
const CometChatComponent = dynamic(
  () => import("../app/CometChatNoSSR/CometChatNoSSR"),
  {
    ssr: false,
  },
);

export default function CometChatAppWrapper() {
  return (
    <div>
      <CometChatComponent />
    </div>
  );
}

Now, import and use the wrapper component in your project’s main entry file.

import CometChatAppWrapper from "./CometChatAppWrapper";

export default function Home() {
  return (
    <>
      {/* Other components or content */}
      <CometChatAppWrapper />
    </>
  );
}

Why disable SSR?CometChat UI Kit Builder relies on browser APIs like window, document, and WebSockets. Since Next.js renders on the server by default, we disable SSR for this component to avoid runtime errors.

Render with Default User and Group

You can also render the component with default user and group selection:

import React, { useEffect, useState } from "react";
import {
  CometChatUIKit,
  UIKitSettingsBuilder,
} from "@cometchat/chat-uikit-react";
import CometChatApp from "../CometChat/CometChatApp";
import { CometChatProvider } from "../CometChat/context/CometChatContext";
import { setupLocalization } from "../CometChat/utils/utils";
import { CometChat } from "@cometchat/chat-sdk-javascript";

export const COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS = {
  APP_ID: "YOUR_APP_ID", // Replace with your App ID
  REGION: "YOUR_REGION", // Replace with your App Region
  AUTH_KEY: "YOUR_AUTH_KEY", // Replace with your Auth Key or leave blank if you are authenticating using Auth Token
};

// Functional Component
const CometChatNoSSR: React.FC = () => {
  const [user, setUser] = useState<CometChat.User | undefined>(undefined);

  const [selectedUser, setSelectedUser] = useState<CometChat.User | undefined>(
    undefined,
  );
  const [selectedGroup, setSelectedGroup] = useState<
    CometChat.Group | undefined
  >(undefined);

  useEffect(() => {
    const UIKitSettings = new UIKitSettingsBuilder()
      .setAppId(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.APP_ID)
      .setRegion(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.REGION)
      .setAuthKey(COMETCHAT_CONSTANTS.AUTH_KEY)
      .subscribePresenceForAllUsers()
      .build();
    // Initialize CometChat UIKit
    CometChatUIKit.init(UIKitSettings)
      ?.then(() => {
        setupLocalization();
        console.log("Initialization completed successfully");
        CometChatUIKit.getLoggedinUser().then((loggedInUser) => {
          if (!loggedInUser) {
            CometChatUIKit.login("cometchat-uid-1") // Replace with your logged in user UID
              .then((user) => {
                console.log("Login Successful", { user });
                setUser(user);
              })
              .catch((error) => console.error("Login failed", error));
          } else {
            console.log("Already logged-in", { loggedInUser });
            setUser(loggedInUser);
          }
        });
      })
      .catch((error) => console.error("Initialization failed", error));
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (user) {
      // Fetch user or group from CometChat SDK whose chat you want to load.

      /** Fetching User */
      const UID = "cometchat-uid-2"; // Replace with your actual UID
      CometChat.getUser(UID).then(
        (user) => {
          setSelectedUser(user);
        },
        (error) => {
          console.log("User fetching failed with error:", error);
        },
      );

      /** Fetching Group */
      // const GUID = "cometchat-guid-1"; // Replace with your actual GUID
      // CometChat.getGroup(GUID).then(
      //   (group) => {
      //    setSelectedGroup(group);
      //  },
      //  (error) => {
      //    console.log("User fetching failed with error:", error);
      //  }
      // );
    }
  }, [user]);

  return (
    /* The CometChatApp component requires a parent element with an explicit height and width
   to render properly. Ensure the container has defined dimensions, and adjust them as needed
   based on your layout requirements. */
    <div style={{ width: "100vw", height: "100dvh" }}>
      <CometChatProvider>
        {(selectedUser || selectedGroup) && (
          <CometChatApp user={selectedUser} group={selectedGroup} />
        )}
      </CometChatProvider>
    </div>
  );
};

export default CometChatNoSSR;

When the sidebar is hidden via the Without Sidebar option in UI Kit Builder, the component renders a single chat type based on the chatType prop:

`chatType`	Behavior
`"user"`	Displays one-on-one conversations with the selected or default user
`"group"`	Displays group conversations with the selected or default group

Pass the user or group prop to specify which conversation opens by default.

Step 6: Run Your App

Start your development server:

npm run dev

Troubleshooting

If you face any issues while integrating the builder in your app project, please check if you have the following configurations added to your tsConfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "resolveJsonModule": true
  }
}

If your development server is running, restart it to ensure the new TypeScript configuration is picked up.

Next Steps

You can continue customizing by editing the exported code directly — or return to the UI Kit Builder to adjust your configuration and re-export a fresh code package.

Customize in Code

Modify the exported components, props, and styling directly in your project.

Customizations

Adjust component props, behavior, and UI elements.

UI Kit Builder Settings

Understand the settings file and feature toggles.

Directory Structure

See how the exported code is organized.

Advanced Theming

Customize colors, typography, and styling to match your brand.

Customize via UI Kit Builder

Return to the Builder to update your configuration, then re-export and replace the code package. Any changes made in the UI Kit Builder will require you to re-export the code and follow the same integration steps above to integrate into your project.

Launch UI Kit Builder

Open the CometChat Dashboard to reconfigure and re-export.

Reference

UI Kit Builder Integration

Complete Integration Workflow

Launch the UI Kit Builder

Review Your Export

Preview Customizations (Optional)

Integrate into Your Project

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Step 2: Copy CometChat Folder

Step 3: Create & Initialize `CometChatNoSSR.tsx`

Step 4: User Authentication

Step 5: Disable SSR & Render CometChat Component

Render with Default User and Group

Without Sidebar Mode

Step 6: Run Your App

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Customize in Code

Customizations

UI Kit Builder Settings

Directory Structure

Advanced Theming

Customize via UI Kit Builder

Launch UI Kit Builder

Reference

​Complete Integration Workflow

​Launch the UI Kit Builder

​Review Your Export

​Preview Customizations (Optional)

​Integrate into Your Project

​Step 1: Install Dependencies

​Step 2: Copy CometChat Folder

​Step 3: Create & Initialize CometChatNoSSR.tsx

​Step 4: User Authentication

​Step 5: Disable SSR & Render CometChat Component

​Render with Default User and Group

​Without Sidebar Mode

​Step 6: Run Your App

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

​Customize in Code

Customizations

UI Kit Builder Settings

Directory Structure

Advanced Theming

​Customize via UI Kit Builder

Launch UI Kit Builder

Complete Integration Workflow

Launch the UI Kit Builder

Review Your Export

Preview Customizations (Optional)

Integrate into Your Project

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Step 2: Copy CometChat Folder

Step 3: Create & Initialize `CometChatNoSSR.tsx`

Step 4: User Authentication

Step 5: Disable SSR & Render CometChat Component

Render with Default User and Group

Without Sidebar Mode

Step 6: Run Your App

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Customize in Code

Customize via UI Kit Builder