Sophia Stack

An open-source, self-hosted AI app builder you actually own — works with any AI provider.

---

Sophia Stack (from SophiaXT Tech) is an open-source, self-hosted AI app builder and agent-operable web/app platform. Deploy it to your own hosting, own your files and data, and build, edit, and operate your site by chatting with your preferred AI — or by handing any AI agent a token to drive it over REST, MCP, or OpenAPI.

It's Lovable/Base44/Bolt-style AI building, but owned, self-hosted, and provider-agnostic — no SaaS lock-in, no single-vendor dependency.

Bring your own AI. Works with OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral, Together, Fireworks, Perplexity, Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, or any OpenAI-compatible / custom endpoint. Claude Code is supported, but not required — it's one developer workflow among many.

Why it exists

Cloud AI builders are fast, but you're renting: your app lives on their servers, your data is theirs to gate, and you can't run it on your own infrastructure or your own models. Sophia Stack flips that — you get the AI-building experience on hardware you control, with the AI provider you choose (including local models), and a deployed site that any agent can operate through open interfaces.

How it compares

	Sophia Stack	Lovable / Base44 / Bolt / v0	Replit Agent
Self-hosted, own the files	✅	❌ (hosted SaaS)	❌
Open source	✅ Apache-2.0	❌	❌
Provider-agnostic (incl. local models)	✅	❌ (their model)	❌
Deployed site is agent-operable (REST/MCP/OpenAPI)	✅	❌	❌
Bring your own API key / no vendor lock-in	✅	❌	❌
Validate-before-commit + rollback + immutable core	✅	partial	partial

This is a young open-source project — see the honest ROADMAP. The trade-off vs. a hosted builder is that you run and update it yourself.

See it in action

Describe it → watch it build live → Push to Live. The split-screen builder: chat on the left, a real-time preview (VEX) on the right that updates as the AI edits — no reload, fully reversible. Here it's building The Library of The Untold and generating a real Seedream 4.5 hero image as it goes:

…and the live result — atmospheric, cohesive, with an AI-generated hero, built entirely by chatting:

The same builder makes anything you own (no code):

A local coffee shop	A SaaS product
Coffee site	SaaS site

AI image generation, built into the flow (Image Studio extension — Seedream 4.5 · Nano Banana 2 · OpenAI · Imagen): when it's installed, the builder automatically generates an image that fits your site and drops it in (e.g. as the hero background) — no extra step. Below is a real Seedream 4.5 render, auto-placed by the builder on a live coffee-shop site:

Guided onboarding · one-click extensions · an installed extension's own panel (the SEO Suite):

Welcome wizard	One-click Extensions	The SEO Suite's own tab
Onboarding	Extensions	SEO panel

First-run setup	Settings — your AI key + Stripe	Connect external agents
Get started	Settings	Connect

Every release ships green: npm test runs 235 checks across 22 suites (provider adapters + streaming, the safe-patch engine, extensions/panels/jobs, accounts, payments, SEO render, self-update rollback, VEX preview, vector memory, one-click git install). See demo/.

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/Chorozion/Sophia-Stack.git
cd Sophia-Stack
npm install
npm run build          # SSR + client bundles + catalog
npm test               # full suite
node scripts/package.mjs   # -> package/ (the deployable artifact)
node bin/sophia.mjs doctor # sanity check

Then deploy (below), open the URL, click Get started, save your 5-word recovery phrase, and either chat with the built-in builder (add a provider key in Settings) or hand an external AI a token. Full walkthrough: docs/getting-started.md.

Deploy from the prebuilt zip

Grab release/sophia-stack.zip (or build it above), upload to your host, set the start file to app.js (Node 18+), start it, open the URL. It boots with zero npm install and honors process.env.PORT (numeric TCP or a Unix socket on Passenger/Hostinger).

Guides: Hostinger · Railway · Render · VPS · Docker

Bring your own AI provider

The built-in builder is provider-agnostic. Configure it in Settings (one-tap presets + "get a key" links) or via environment variables (see .env.example):

Provider	Type	Notes
OpenAI / DeepSeek / Groq / OpenRouter / Mistral / Together / Fireworks / Perplexity	openai	any OpenAI-compatible API
Anthropic (Claude)	anthropic	native Messages API
Google Gemini	gemini	native generateContent
Ollama / LM Studio / vLLM	openai	local models, no key needed
Any custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint	openai	set a base URL

sophia ai:list      # providers detected from your env
sophia ai:doctor    # what's configured
sophia ai:test      # send a tiny prompt to the active provider

Details: docs/ai-providers/overview.md.

Operate it with an external AI agent

A deployed Sophia site is agent-operable. Mint a mykey- token in the dashboard and hand it to any agent that can call HTTP — it edits the live site directly:

• REST — GET /api/sophia/catalog|model|ping, POST /api/sophia/patch, PUT /api/sophia/css, POST /api/sophia/rollback. → docs/ai-agents/rest.md
• MCP — remote /mcp endpoint + a stdio wrapper. → docs/ai-agents/mcp.md
• OpenAPI — GET /openapi.json for a ChatGPT Custom GPT Action. → docs/ai-agents/chatgpt-actions.md
• Claude Code / Cursor / Cline — hand it the skill + URL + token. → Claude Code · Cursor

Claude Code is one recommended developer workflow. Sophia Stack itself can be operated by any compatible AI agent or API client — it's MCP/OpenAPI/REST ready.

Templates

Start from a real app instead of a blank page:

sophia template list
sophia template create local-service-business   # seeds ./.sophia-data

See templates/ and docs/platform/templates.md.

Extensions & plugins

Sophia Stack supports optional extensions — installable modules that add features without forking the core. They register admin nav, settings, API routes, and hook listeners; use the provider-agnostic AI service; and edit the site only through the validated, rollback-safe patch pipeline (never by mutating the model directly). Every capability is gated by a scoped permission, and every action is audited.

One-click installs from a public git repo, each running as its own dashboard tab — here Image Studio and the Sophia SEO Suite installed and active:

• Manifest + lifecycle — extension.json + an entry module with activate/deactivate.
• Scoped permissions — site:patch, pages:read, ai:use, settings:write, … (13 total).
• Hooks — site.afterPatch, page.afterSave, media.afterUpload, seo.audit.requested, ….
• Admin nav + API routes — extensions expose nav items and /api/extensions/<id>/* endpoints.

Sophia SEO Suite (SEO audits, metadata, schema markup, sitemaps, internal links, local SEO, …) is being developed as a separate, optional extension/plugin for Sophia Stack — not part of the base runtime. A contract stub lives at examples/extensions/sophia-seo-suite-stub.

Build one in 15 minutes — Sophia Stack is community-driven, and extensions are how it grows. Developers: start with the extension developer guide (everything required to build a plugin — manifest, permissions, the ctx API, hooks, jobs, publishing).

sophia create-extension my-tool   # scaffolds a working extension (own tab, route, hook, settings)

Then publish it to a public git repo and anyone installs it in one click. Start with Build your first extension and the working examples: hello-extension and sophia-image-gen (Image Studio — provider-agnostic AI image generation with context-aware prompts, OpenAI/fal/Imagen). PRs that add your extension to the community list are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Safety & security

Every edit is validated before it commits (bad edits rejected), with version history + one-click rollback and an immutable core + footer the AI can't remove. Server functions run in a vm sandbox with no require/process/fs/network. Login + recovery are rate-limited.

⚠️ You are running a live, write-capable app. Use HTTPS, a strong admin password, save your recovery phrase, keep tokens private, and back up .sophia-data. The function sandbox is "good-enough" containment, not a hardened multi-tenant boundary. Read SECURITY.md and the production checklist.

Documentation

• New / non-technical? No-code quickstart · Set up with an AI assistant · FAQ · Glossary
• Start here: getting-started · installation
• Deploy: Hostinger · Railway · Render · VPS · Docker
• AI providers: overview and per-provider guides
• AI agents: REST · MCP · OpenAPI · Claude Code · Cursor · ChatGPT Actions
• Platform: site model · patch API · data layer · server functions · themes · templates
• Members & payments: accounts · Stripe (your own)
• Extensions: build your first · overview · manifest · permissions · hooks · safe patching
• Positioning: competitive analysis — how Sophia Stack compares to Lovable/Base44/WordPress/etc.
• Security: production checklist · key management · threat model

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md — shipped vs. in-progress vs. planned, kept honest.

Contributing

PRs welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md and CLAUDE.md (the repo guide for AI-assisted contributors — Claude Code is one supported workflow; the standards apply to any tool). Be kind: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

Support the project

Sophia Stack is free and open-source. If it's useful to you, you can support ongoing development:

· Sponsor on GitHub · ⭐ Star the repo

Every bit helps keep this independent and lock-in-free. Thank you. 🙏

License

Apache-2.0 © SophiaXT Tech.