Philosopher App

Talk with AI versions of five philosophers — Aquinas, Camus, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre — grounded in their actual writings. Ask a question, get a reply in their voice, and see the passages the answer is drawn from. Works by text or by voice.

A further 18 philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle through Beauvoir, Wittgenstein, and Foucault, are implemented but held back from the public demo. See Releasing a philosopher.

What it does

• Chat with a philosopher on any topic — meaning, death, freedom, God, ethics — and get a response shaped by their real ideas, not a generic summary.
• Talk out loud. Voice mode lets you speak your question and hear the philosopher's reply read back.
• Dueling philosophers. Ask two philosophers to debate about a topic you choose

Getting started

You'll need Node.js installed.

1. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

2. Copy the example environment file and add your API key:

   cp .env.example .env.local
   

   Open .env.local and paste in an Anthropic API key (get one at console.anthropic.com). Voice replies are optional — without an ElevenLabs key, the app just uses your browser's built-in voice instead.
3. Start the app:

   npm run dev
   

4. Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Releasing a philosopher

The demo roster is one array: DEMO_ROSTER_IDS in src/lib/demoRoster.ts. Everything that lists or serves a philosopher derives from it — the carousel, the landing rail, the duel picker, the profile and conversation pages, and the /api/* handlers — so adding an id is all it takes to make that philosopher live. Anyone not on the list 404s.

Adding a philosopher from scratch is a separate job; see docs/ADDING_A_PHILOSOPHER.md.

Project status

This is an active work in progress. See docs/STATUS.md for what's done and what's next.