Installation

Install Spectator

npm install @spectator-ai/core

Or with your preferred package manager:

npm

npm install @spectator-ai/core

pnpm

pnpm add @spectator-ai/core

yarn

yarn add @spectator-ai/core

bun

bun add @spectator-ai/core

Install an AI Provider

Spectator uses the Vercel AI SDK and requires at least one provider package:

Provider	Package	Default Model
Anthropic (Claude)	@ai-sdk/anthropic	claude-sonnet-4-20250514
OpenAI	@ai-sdk/openai	gpt-4o

npm

npm install @ai-sdk/anthropic    # Anthropic Claude (recommended)
npm install @ai-sdk/openai       # OpenAI

pnpm

pnpm add @ai-sdk/anthropic
pnpm add @ai-sdk/openai

yarn

yarn add @ai-sdk/anthropic
yarn add @ai-sdk/openai

bun

bun add @ai-sdk/anthropic
bun add @ai-sdk/openai

Set Your API Key

Set your provider's API key as an environment variable:

# Anthropic
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

# OpenAI
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

TIP

You can also pass apiKey directly to the Engine constructor, but environment variables are recommended to avoid committing secrets.

Optional: Install Presets

The @spectator-ai/presets package provides ready-made worlds, plot templates, and character archetypes:

npm

npm install @spectator-ai/presets

pnpm

pnpm add @spectator-ai/presets

yarn

yarn add @spectator-ai/presets

bun

bun add @spectator-ai/presets

Requirements

• Node.js >= 20 (or Bun >= 1.0)
• An API key for your chosen AI provider
• Package manager: npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun

Next Steps

Head to the Quick Start to generate your first story.