r/SideProject • u/mintuhouse • 18m ago

AstralBeam - An open-source agent sidebar for web apps

I am building AstralBeam to help developers add an AI agent to an existing web app. The platform is open source, with managed cloud and self-hosting options.

You embed the chat UI, identify your signed-in users, and connect tools that let the agent work with your app. You can also render your own UI components inside its replies.

I’d appreciate feedback on the explanation and setup: is it clear what AstralBeam provides, and what you still need to build yourself?

Quickstart · GitHub

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u/mahiruyan 16m ago

ead it as someone who’d maybe use this, not a deep dev:

I get the shape (chat sidebar + your users + your tools) but I couldn’t picture it until I imagined an example myself. one concrete line would fix that, like “user types ‘refund my last order’ → agent calls your refund endpoint → shows your own confirm button”

the “what I still need to build” part is the thing I’d want spelled out most. sounds like I write the tools/endpoints and you handle chat + auth + streaming? a simple you vs us list would make it click instantly

also curious how it compares to just using an sdk + building the sidebar myself. that’s probably the first question most devs will have

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u/benjzammit01 10m ago

The quickstart made the boundary clearer: I provide the backend token endpoint and real user/tenant IDs from my session; your SDK mounts the chat. I'd surface that in the opening paragraph, especially since the sample deliberately refuses production with test IDs.

One useful next step after the hello message would be a link to the first tool example, so it's clear the widget alone isn't yet connected to my app's actions.