AI Agent API Backend

A backend for building AI-powered applications using Encore.go and Claude.

Architecture

This app has two services:

chat — Manages conversation sessions and message history (Postgres DB). Exposes the public API.
ai — Internal service that calls the Anthropic Claude API to generate responses.

Prerequisites

Encore CLI
Docker (for local Postgres databases)
An Anthropic API key

Getting Started

Set the Anthropic API key as a secret:

encore secret set --type dev,local,pr,prod AnthropicAPIKey

Run the app:

encore run

The Postgres database is provisioned automatically on startup. Encore runs the migrations and manages the database for you — no manual setup required.

Open http://localhost:4000 for usage instructions, or http://localhost:9400 for the Local Dashboard. When deployed to Encore Cloud, use the Service Catalog to call endpoints and view traces to see how requests flow between services.

API Endpoints

Send a message

curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/chat \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"message": "What is Encore?"}'

Returns a session_id you can use for follow-up messages:

curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/chat \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"message": "Tell me more", "session_id": "<session_id>"}'

Get conversation history

curl http://localhost:4000/chat/<session_id>

List all sessions

curl http://localhost:4000/chat

Deployment

Self-hosting

See the self-hosting instructions for how to use encore build docker to create a Docker image and configure it.

Encore Cloud Platform

Deploy your application to a free staging environment in Encore's development cloud using git push encore:

git add -A .
git commit -m 'Commit message'
git push encore

You can also open your app in the Cloud Dashboard to integrate with GitHub, or connect your AWS/GCP account, enabling Encore to automatically handle cloud deployments for you.

Testing

encore test ./...

Getting Started

Set the Anthropic API key as a secret:

encore secret set --type dev,local,pr,prod AnthropicAPIKey

Run the app:

encore run

The Postgres database is provisioned automatically on startup. Encore runs the migrations and manages the database for you — no manual setup required.

API Endpoints

Send a message

curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/chat \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"message": "What is Encore?"}'

Returns a session_id you can use for follow-up messages:

curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/chat \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"message": "Tell me more", "session_id": "<session_id>"}'

Get conversation history

curl http://localhost:4000/chat/<session_id>

List all sessions

curl http://localhost:4000/chat