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-
-
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-
# Echo
-
-
-
-
- [](https://discord.gg/merit)
- 
- [](https://github.com/Merit-Systems/echo)
- [](https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0)
-
-
-
-**User-pays AI infrastructure. Drop in Echo, users pay for their own usage—you never front costs.**
-
-Skip the hard choice between fronting API costs, high-friction BYOK flows, or building billing from scratch.
-
-[Read the docs](https://echo.merit.systems/docs) | [Live demo](https://echo-next-image.vercel.app/) | [Read our announcement](https://www.merit.systems/blog/echo)
-
-## The Problem
-
-Building AI apps forces you to pick your poison:
-
-| Approach | Developer Cost | User Experience | Revenue Model |
-| ------------------ | ----------------------- | ---------------------- | ------------------------ |
-| **BYOK** | None (but no revenue) | Complex key management | None |
-| **Dev API Key** | Unpredictable burn rate | Simple | Need metering + billing |
-| **Bill End Users** | Weeks building infra | Simple | Auth + Stripe + metering |
-
-Echo eliminates all three problems.
-
-## How Echo Works
-
-Replace your AI SDK imports with Echo. Users authenticate once, get a balance, and pay for their own usage. You set a markup and earn revenue automatically.
-
-**Before:**
-
-```typescript
-// Option 1: Front costs yourself
-import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
-import { generateText } from 'ai';
-const response = await generateText({
- model: openai('gpt-5'),
- 'YOUR-API-KEY',
- prompt: '...'
-});
-
-```
-
-**After:**
-
-```typescript
-// Users pay, you earn markup, zero infrastructure
-import { useEchoModelProviders } from '@merit-systems/echo-react-sdk';
-import { generateText } from 'ai';
-
-const { openai } = useEchoModelProviders();
-const response = await generateText({
- model: openai('gpt-5'),
- prompt: '...',
-});
-```
-
-## Quick Start
-
-```bash
-pnpx echo-start@latest
-```
-
-Creates a new app with Echo pre-configured. Live in 2 minutes.
-
-## Why Echo?
-
-**No hosting costs** - Users pay providers directly through Echo. You never proxy requests or front bills.
-
-**Better UX** - One OAuth login replaces complex BYOK flows. Users get a universal balance across all Echo apps.
-
-**Instant revenue** - Set a markup percentage. Every token generates profit automatically.
-
-**Zero infrastructure** - No payment processing, no usage tracking, no key validation. Echo handles it all.
-
-## Core
-
-- [Echo Control](./packages/app/control): Next.js app for [echo.merit.systems](https://echo.merit.systems). Hosted site and api routes.
-- [Echo Server](./packages/app/server): Express server for router.echo.merit.systems. Proxy for routing and metering LLM requests from clients.
-
-## SDKs
-
-- [Echo TS SDK](./packages/sdk/ts) Typescript SDK that all the framework specific SDKs are built on top of.
-- [Echo Next.js SDK](./packages/sdk/next) SDK for simple Next.js 15+ App Router integration.
-- [Echo React SDK](./packages/sdk/react) SDK for simple React client side SPA integration.
-
-## Examples
-
-- [Echo Next.js Example](./packages/sdk/examples/next)
-- [Echo React SDK](./packages/sdk/examples/vite)
-
-## Templates
-
-Get started quickly with `echo-start`:
+Echo is a platform designed to simplify complex system interactions and data flows, providing a seamless experience for developers and users. This repository contains the monorepo for Echo, including its core application, SDK, and various templates.
-```bash
-pnpx echo-start gen-ai-app
-```
+## 🚀 Getting Started Locally
-Available templates:
+This guide will help you get Echo up and running on your local machine for development and testing.
-- **[next](./templates/next)** - Next.js application with Echo
-- **[react](./templates/react)** - Vite React application with Echo
-- **[next-chat](./templates/next-chat)** - Next.js chatbot with Echo and Vercel AI SDK
-- **[assistant-ui](./templates/assistant-ui)** - Next.js with Echo and Assistant UI
-- **[echo-cli](./templates/echo-cli)** - CLI tool for AI chat with Echo (API keys + crypto wallets)
+### Prerequisites
-Or run `npx echo-start my-app` to choose interactively.
+Before you begin, ensure you have the following software installed:
-**Note:** The CLI template (`echo-cli`) requires manual installation from the repository as it's a command-line tool rather than a web application. See the [templates README](./templates/README.md) for details.
+* **Git**: For cloning the repository.
+ * [Download Git](https://git-scm.com/downloads)
+* **Node.js**: Version 18.x or later is recommended.
+ * [Download Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/download/)
+* **pnpm**: A fast, disk-space efficient package manager.
+ * Install with `npm install -g pnpm`
+* **Docker & Docker Compose**: For running the local database.
+ * [Download Docker Desktop](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/) (includes Docker Compose)
-# Development
+### Setup Steps
-Fill out `packages/app/control/.env` and `packages/app/server/.env`. Then...
+Follow these steps to get Echo running:
-- `pnpm i`
-- `pnpm dev`
+1. **Clone the Repository**
+
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diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
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+version: '3.8'
+services:
+ db:
+ image: postgres:15-alpine
+ restart: always
+ environment:
+ POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+ POSTGRES_PASSWORD: mysecretpassword # IMPORTANT: Use a strong, unique password for production environments!
+ POSTGRES_DB: echo_dev
+ ports:
+ - "5432:5432" # Expose PostgreSQL port to the host
+ volumes:
+ # Persist data to a named volume to prevent data loss on container removal
+ - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+ healthcheck:
+ test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres -d echo_dev"]
+ interval: 5s
+ timeout: 5s
+ retries: 5
+
+volumes:
+ db_data:
+ driver: local