---
title: "Examples Overview"
description: "Learn elizaOS through working TypeScript examples"
---

elizaOS ships a collection of examples under `packages/examples/`. Each example is TypeScript-first and runnable with Bun from the repository root.

## Quick Reference

| Example                            | Path / entry                         | Description                    |
| ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------ |
| [CLI Chat](/examples/chat)         | `examples/chat/chat.ts`            | Interactive terminal chat      |
| [REST API](/examples/rest-api)     | `examples/rest-api/` (Express, etc.) | HTTP APIs                      |
| [Browser](/examples/browser)       | `examples/html/`, `examples/next/`   | Client-side agents             |
| [Serverless](/examples/serverless) | `examples/aws/`, `examples/gcp/`, … | Cloud functions and workers     |
| [Games](/examples/game)            | `examples/text-adventure/game.ts`, … | AI and agentic game demos       |

---

## Running Examples

Examples live in `packages/examples/` (documented here as `examples/<name>/` relative to the elizaOS repo root).

```bash
git clone https://github.com/elizaos/eliza.git
cd eliza

bun install
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

# CLI chat
bun run examples/chat/chat.ts
```

---

## Environment Setup

Most examples require an OpenAI API key:

```bash
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
```

Or create a `.env` file in the repository root:

```bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
```

| Variable             | Default                     | Description                      |
| -------------------- | --------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| `OPENAI_API_KEY`     | (required for LLM examples) | OpenAI API key                   |
| `OPENAI_BASE_URL`    | `https://api.openai.com/v1` | API base URL                     |
| `OPENAI_SMALL_MODEL` | `gpt-5-mini`                | Model for TEXT_SMALL             |
| `OPENAI_LARGE_MODEL` | `gpt-5`                     | Model for TEXT_LARGE             |
| `LOG_LEVEL`          | `info`                      | Set to `fatal` to suppress logs  |
| `PGLITE_DATA_DIR`    | `memory://`                 | PGLite storage                   |

---

## Example Categories

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Chat Applications" icon="comments" href="/examples/chat">
    Interactive CLI chat: message handling, streaming responses, and memory.
  </Card>

  <Card title="REST APIs" icon="server" href="/examples/rest-api">
    HTTP servers with Express, Hono, and Elysia.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Browser Apps" icon="browser" href="/examples/browser">
    Client-side agents with React, Next.js, and static HTML.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Serverless" icon="cloud" href="/examples/serverless">
    AWS Lambda, GCP Cloud Functions, Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Supabase Edge.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Games" icon="gamepad" href="/examples/game">
    Text adventure, tic-tac-toe, and agentic simulations.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

---

## TypeScript quick pattern

```typescript
import { AgentRuntime } from "@elizaos/core";
import { openaiPlugin } from "@elizaos/plugin-openai";

const runtime = new AgentRuntime({
  character: { name: "Eliza", bio: "A helpful AI." },
  plugins: [openaiPlugin],
});

await runtime.initialize();
```

---

## Contributing Examples

When contributing:

1. Add or extend a folder under `packages/examples/` with a `README.md` and runnable entry.
2. Match existing layout (flat TypeScript at the example root unless a monorepo-style sample needs subfolders).
3. Run `bun run typecheck` / tests for any package you touch.

See [Contributing to Core](/guides/contribute-to-core) for the full guide.