---
title: "Chat — runtime and admin surfaces"
description: "The core SQL tables, auth setup, and the Database/Observability/Extensions admin pages that ship by default with the Chat template."
---

# Chat — runtime and admin surfaces

This page is for developers who need to know what runs under the hood in [Chat](/docs/template-chat): the tables every template shares, how auth is configured, and the admin pages — Database, Observability, and Extensions — that ship in every Chat app whether or not you ever open them.

## Core SQL tables and live sync {#tables}

Chat adds no domain tables of its own (see [What's not in it](/docs/template-chat#not-in-it)). It runs entirely on the framework's core tables: chat threads and messages, `application_state`, `settings`, sessions, resources, and run history.

`useDbSync()` is already wired into the app shell: when the agent (or anyone else) writes to SQL, the client receives the change over SSE, or the 2-second polling fallback, and invalidates the matching React Query caches — no manual refresh, no websocket you have to manage yourself. See [`useDbSync`](/docs/client#usedbsync) for the full hook API.

`server/plugins/agent-chat.ts` is where the chat runtime itself is configured: it registers every action in `actions/` as a callable tool (`loadActionsFromStaticRegistry`), resolves the current org for scoping (`resolveOrgId`), sets the system prompt, and declares which tools the model sees on the very first turn (`initialToolNames`) — see [Your first feature in Chat](/docs/template-chat-first-edits#first-edits) for what that last part means when you add a new action.

## Auth {#auth}

Auth runs on Better Auth: login, signup, sessions, and organizations, configured in `server/plugins/auth.ts` via `createAuthPlugin`. The same flow runs locally and in production, except that development skips email verification so you can sign up and start building immediately. `createAuthPlugin` also takes the login page's marketing copy — app name, tagline, and feature bullets — as plain config in that same file. See [Authentication](/docs/authentication) for the full auth model (sessions, organizations, protected routes).

## Admin surfaces that ship by default {#admin-surfaces}

Three routes are mounted whether or not your app ever links to them:

<Table
  id="doc-block-chat6"
  title="Chat's mounted routes"
  columns={["Route", "Renders", "What it's for"]}
  rows={[
    [
      "/",
      "ChatRoute (app/routes/_index.tsx)",
      "Full-page chat, the default view",
    ],
    [
      "/chat/:threadId",
      "same component, re-exported",
      "Chat with the open thread synced into the URL",
    ],
    [
      "/agent",
      "AgentTabsPage (falls back to a plain chat surface on older core versions)",
      "The full Agent page — Context, Files, Connections, Jobs, Access tabs",
    ],
    ["/database", "DbAdminPage", "Browse and edit every SQL table directly"],
    [
      "/observability",
      "ObservabilityDashboard",
      "Agent traces, cost, evals, and feedback",
    ],
    [
      "/extensions",
      "redirects to /settings#extensions",
      "Extensions are managed from Settings, not a standalone list page",
    ],
    [
      "/extensions/:id (or /extensions/:id/:slug)",
      "ExtensionViewerPage",
      "Runs one saved extension mini-app; the optional slug segment is just a friendlier URL for the same page",
    ],
    [
      "/settings",
      "SettingsTabsPage",
      "Account, language, agent, team, and what's-new tabs",
    ],
    [
      "/team",
      "redirects to /settings#organization",
      "Organization membership lives under Settings",
    ],
  ]}
/>

**Database** (`/database`) is the same `DbAdminPage` every template gets — a direct table browser/editor over the app's SQL database. See [Database](/docs/database) for the connection model behind it.

**Observability** (`/observability`) is the same zero-config `ObservabilityDashboard` every template gets: traces, cost, evals, and feedback for every agent run, computed from data already in your own database. See [Agent Observability](/docs/observability).

**Extensions** are sandboxed Alpine.js mini-apps your users can ask the agent to build inside the running app — a custom widget or checklist, no deploy required. Chat mounts the routes that view and run them (`/extensions/:id`) by default, even before you or your users create one; `/extensions` itself just redirects into the Extensions tab of Settings rather than showing its own list. See [Extensions](/docs/extensions) for what they can and cannot do.

## What's next

- [**Chat Template**](/docs/template-chat) — what ships by default and when to pick it
- [**Your first feature in Chat**](/docs/template-chat-first-edits) — the starter chat route, annotated, plus a full feature walkthrough
- [**Database**](/docs/database) — connecting a real database and the portable-SQL model
- [**Agent Observability**](/docs/observability) — what the dashboard tracks and how
- [**Extensions**](/docs/extensions) — building mini-apps inside a template
- [**Authentication**](/docs/authentication) — sessions, organizations, and protected routes