Since you’re a full-stack TypeScript developer, you can definitely build GenAI applications using your existing skills while learning AI-specific technologies. Below is a step-by-step learning path to help you build a GenAI app from scratch.
🚀 This roadmap is broken down into 5 stages, each building on the previous one.
1️⃣ Phase 1: Learn AI & GenAI Fundamentals (1-2 Months)
Before building, you need to understand the basics of AI, machine learning, and LLMs.
📌 AI/ML Basics
- Learn the difference between Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), and Generative AI (GenAI).
- Study LLMs (Large Language Models) like GPT, LLaMA, Claude, Gemini.
📌 Key AI Concepts
- Embeddings & Vector Search (For AI-powered search, chatbots)
- Tokenization (How LLMs process text)
- Prompt Engineering (Optimizing prompts for better AI responses)
📌 Tools & Libraries
- LangChain.js – Framework for AI-powered apps.
- Hugging Face Transformers – Open-source AI models.
- OpenAI API – Easy access to AI models like GPT-4.
- Pinecone/ChromaDB – Vector databases for memory and search.
🎯 Learning Resources
2️⃣ Phase 2: Backend for AI-Powered Apps (2-3 Months)
You’ll need to create a backend that serves AI models via APIs.
📌 What to Learn
✅ REST & GraphQL APIs for serving AI models.
✅ Serverless AI APIs (AWS Lambda, GCP Cloud Run).
✅ Streaming AI responses (WebSockets, Server-Sent Events).
✅ Fine-tuning models & deploying them (Hugging Face, OpenAI Fine-tuning).
📌 Key Technologies
- FastAPI (Python) or Next.js API routes – For AI model serving.
- LangChain.js – For chaining AI prompts & memory.
- Vector Databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, ChromaDB) – For storing embeddings.
- Docker & Kubernetes – For AI model deployment.
🛠️ Example AI Backend
✅ Build a ChatGPT-style API using OpenAI + TypeScript.
✅ Add vector search to retrieve relevant info from a knowledge base.
✅ Deploy using Vercel, AWS, or GCP.
🎯 Learning Resources
3️⃣ Phase 3: AI-Powered Frontend with TypeScript (2-3 Months)
Now, let’s build an AI-powered frontend.
📌 What to Learn
✅ Next.js + React for UI.
✅ LangChain.js for frontend AI calls.
✅ Streaming AI responses in real-time.
✅ LLM-powered chatbots & AI search.
📌 Key Technologies
- Next.js (React Server Components)
- ShadCN UI (for UI components)
- TailwindCSS (for styling)
- WebSockets for AI streaming
- LangChain.js for calling AI models
🛠️ Example AI Frontend
✅ Build an AI chatbot (ChatGPT clone) with streaming responses.
✅ Create a semantic search app with AI-powered autocomplete.
✅ Deploy your app on Vercel or Netlify.
🎯 Learning Resources
4️⃣ Phase 4: Full AI-Powered App (Project-Based Learning)
Now it’s time to build real-world GenAI applications.
🚀 AI-Powered Project Ideas
✅ ChatGPT-style chatbot (using OpenAI + LangChain.js)
✅ AI-powered search engine (Next.js + Pinecone)
✅ AI-generated blog posts (Next.js + OpenAI API)
✅ AI-powered customer support (Chatbot + RAG with vector search)
📌 Tech Stack
- Frontend: Next.js 15, React 19, TailwindCSS, LangChain.js
- Backend: FastAPI (Python) or Next.js API routes (TypeScript)
- Database: PostgreSQL, Redis, Pinecone (for vector search)
- Deployment: Vercel, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes
🎯 Learning Resources
5️⃣ Phase 5: Advanced Topics & Scaling
Once you’re comfortable, scale up your AI knowledge.
📌 Advanced AI Topics
- Fine-tuning LLMs (Custom AI models for your use case)
- Building multi-modal AI apps (Images, text, audio)
- AI Safety & Ethics (Avoiding AI bias, hallucinations)
- Self-hosting AI models (Running LLaMA, Falcon, Mistral on your server)
📌 Key Technologies
- Llama.cpp, vLLM (Run AI models locally)
- Stable Diffusion, DALL·E (AI-generated images)
- Whisper AI (Speech-to-text)
📌 Open-Source Contributions
✅ Contribute to Hugging Face, LangChain.js, OpenAI projects.
✅ Build custom AI plugins & frameworks for TypeScript/JavaScript.
✅ Explore AI startup & SaaS opportunities.
🎯 Final Thoughts
✅ Yes! You can build GenAI apps using TypeScript.
✅ Focus on AI backend, vector search, and AI-powered UI.
✅ Build real-world AI projects to reinforce learning.
✅ Stay updated with LangChain.js, OpenAI, and Hugging Face.
Top comments (1)
Excellent Roadmap guide