Enhancing ChatCraft: Publish Package and Improve User Experience

In the world of software development, continuous improvement is key to delivering a seamless user experience. This blog post discusses recent updates and enhancements to ChatCraft, a powerful chat application. We'll delve into the process of creating a Node.js package, setting up TypeScript2openAI, and improving the user experience through PR reviews and feature additions.

- Publishing a Node.js Package

Workflow Setup
To streamline the development process, I implemented a robust workflow for releasing Node.js packages. The workflow triggers on release creation events and involves several key steps:

Setting Up Environment Variables: I use environment variables to securely store sensitive information. In this case, the NPM_TOKEN is stored in the environment to ensure secure package publishing.

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3
  - name: Set NPM Token in .npmrc
    run: echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}" > .npmrc
  - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2
    with:
      version: 8
      run_install: true
  - run: pnpm build
  - run: pnpm test
  - run: pnpm publish

This workflow ensures that every release is built, tested, and published automatically, reducing manual intervention and minimizing the chances of errors.

- Improving User Experience

Opening Code in New Window
One significant user experience enhancement involved creating a new Blob URL for the code and adding an IconButton to open the new blob.

I implemented a mechanism to generate a new Blob URL for the code, allowing users to view the code in a new window. An IconButton was added to provide an intuitive way for users to open the code in a new window, enhancing accessibility and usability.
User feedback is a crucial aspect of our development process. Special thanks to Amnish for highlighting inconsistent borders on the IconButton and to Roy for pointing out the "Open Code in New Window" button's visibility issues in dark mode.

- PR Review Process

I tried to review two PRs:
"Fix: Better UX for Long Messages": Mingming, a valued contributor, worked tirelessly to enhance the user experience for long messages.

"Opening Sidebar Should Not Displace Main Content": A significant challenge was identified regarding the displacement of main content when opening the sidebar. My Local testing revealed consistent issues, need further discussion on potential solutions.

- Future Plans

Next week's I'll do a small ticket titled "Use npm version of TypeScript2openAI." Additionally, I will explore Google OAuth for user authentication, enhancing security and accessibility.