Kyle Graham Matzen

Posted on Sep 11

Building an AI Store Generator with Tambo

#ai #react #ecommerce #tambo

I just finished building an AI store generator template for the TamboHack - a week-long hackathon focused on generative user experiences. As a founding builder, I wanted to create something that shows off Tambo's power in the simplest way possible.

What is Tambo?

Tambo is an AI orchestration framework for React frontends. Think of it as the bridge between AI and your UI components - it lets AI dynamically generate and control React components based on user conversations.

How It Works

I created a complete e-commerce store builder that works entirely through natural language. The flow is pretty straightforward:

Configure your store: "I want to create a vintage clothing store for young professionals"
Generate products: "Add 8 denim items between $50-$150"
Preview everything: See your complete store with products, pricing, and shopping functionality

How It Works Under the Hood

The template uses three core Tambo patterns:

1. Component Registration

Components are registered in src/lib/tambo.ts with Zod schemas so AI can render them dynamically:

{
  name: "ProductGenerator",
  description: "Display products with search and sorting",
  component: ProductGenerator,
  propsSchema: productGeneratorSchema,
}

2. Tool Integration

External functions become "tools" that AI can invoke:

{
  name: "generateProducts", 
  description: "Generate products for a store",
  tool: generateProducts,
  toolSchema: z.function().args(/* schema */)
}

3. Natural Language Interface

Users describe what they want, and Tambo figures out which components to render and which tools to call.

What makes this different from other tools?

Traditional e-commerce builders require clicking through dozens of menus and forms. With Tambo, you just describe what you want and the AI builds it for you.

The template handles complex scenarios:

Different pricing tiers (free, paid, custom pricing)
Product search and sorting
Responsive design
Type-safe component interactions

Getting Started

The template is designed to get developers from 0 to 1 fast:

git clone https://github.com/kylegrahammatzen/tambo-template-store
cd tambo-store-template
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Add your Tambo API key and start building stores through conversation.

What I Learned

Building with Tambo makes it easier so instead of thinking like "what UI do I need?", you think "what conversation should this enable?" and it's a shift towards more intuitive, AI-native interfaces.

The Tambo framework handles the complex orchestration between AI reasoning and React rendering, so you can focus on building great user experiences.

This template barely scratches the surface, as imagine soon with a product like Tambo people can now:

Generate entire checkout flows
Create custom product recommendations
Build admin dashboards on demand

Tambo makes this future possible today.

Built for TamboHack 2025 - $10k in prizes for the future of generative UX

Try the template: GitHub Repository
Learn more about Tambo: docs.tambo.co

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