Quickstart Guide

⚠️ Important: Tonk is under heavy development and APIs are changing rapidly. Getting started requires manual setup and isn't for the faint of heart. We're working on making this easier!

Prerequisites

The easiest way to get started is with Nix, which automatically sets up all dependencies including the relay server:

# Install Nix with flakes support
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf -L https://install.determinate.systems/nix | sh -s -- install

# Enter development environment
cd tonk
nix develop

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

Option 2: Manual Setup

If you prefer not to use Nix:

  1. Install dependencies:

    • Node.js 20+
    • pnpm 9+
    • Rust toolchain (for building core)

  2. Set up relay binary:

    You'll need access to the relay binary. Contact the Tonk team for details.

    export TONK_RELAY_BINARY=/path/to/tonk-relay

  3. Build core-js:

    cd packages/core-js
pnpm install
pnpm build

Try the Example

The most complete example is latergram. Here's how to run it:

Note: With Nix, the relay server is automatically available via $TONK_RELAY_BINARY. Without Nix, ensure you've set the TONK_RELAY_BINARY environment variable.

  1. Bundle the latergram example:
cd examples/latergram
pnpm install
pnpm bundle create # Creates a .tonk file
touch .env # Create .env file, see .env.example for required API_KEY (latergram uses Anthropic Claude)
  1. Load it in host-web:
cd packages/host-web
pnpm dev
# Then upload the .tonk file created in step 1

Note on Templates

The create package has templates, but they're still in flux and may not work reliably. For now, we recommend starting from the latergram example and modifying it to suit your needs.

Examples in the Repository

Explore these working examples:

  • latergram - Advanced application with dynamic components

Next Steps