Examples Overview

Get started with GUN examples - real-world applications and code samples

Examples Overview

Welcome to the GUN examples collection! This section provides practical, working examples to help you understand how to build real-world applications with GUN.

Getting Started

All examples are located in the examples/ directory of the GUN repository. You can run them locally or explore the code to understand different patterns and use cases.

Running Examples Locally

1. Clone the GUN repository:

git clone https://github.com/amark/gun.git
cd gun

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Start the server:

node examples/http.js

4. Open your browser to http://localhost:8765

Available Examples

Basic Examples

Simple, minimal examples to understand core concepts:

• Chat (basic/chat.html) - Real-time chat application
• Note (basic/note.html) - Collaborative text editor
• Meet (basic/meet.html) - Video conferencing with WebRTC
• Poll (basic/poll.html) - Real-time polling application
• Upload (basic/upload.html) - File upload and sharing
• Video (basic/video.html) - Video streaming
• Private (basic/private.html) - Encrypted private messaging

Framework Examples

Examples using popular frontend frameworks:

• React - Todo app, chat, and JSON viewer components
• Angular - Full Angular integration example
• React Native - Mobile app examples for iOS/Android
• Vue - Vue.js integration examples
• Vanilla JS - Pure JavaScript implementations

Server Examples

Different ways to set up a GUN server:

• Express (express.js) - GUN with Express.js
• HTTP (http.js) - Standalone HTTP server with clustering
• Hapi (hapi.js) - GUN with Hapi.js framework
• Relay - SQLite-backed relay server example

Advanced Examples

• Iris - Decentralized social network (Twitter/Instagram clone)
• Space Game (game/space.html) - Multiplayer space game
• Infinite Scroll - Efficient pagination patterns
• Explorer - Visual database explorer
• Stats (stats.html) - Real-time node statistics

Example Categories

Browse examples by use case:

Real-time Collaboration

• Chat Application - Build a real-time chat
• Collaborative Editor - Build a Google Docs-style editor
• Todo App - Learn CRUD operations

Networking & P2P

• P2P Networking - Mesh networking and peer discovery
• WebRTC integration for video/audio
• Relay server configuration

Example Structure

Most examples follow this pattern:

// Initialize GUN
const gun = Gun([
  'http://localhost:8765/gun',
  'https://gun-manhattan.herokuapp.com/gun'
]);

// Get or create a reference
const app = gun.get('myapp');

// Write data
app.get('key').put('value');

// Read data
app.get('key').on(data => {
  console.log(data); // 'value'
});

Best Practices

1. Start Simple - Begin with basic examples before moving to complex ones
2. Open Multiple Windows - See real-time sync by opening the same example in multiple browser windows
3. Check the Console - Many examples log useful debugging information
4. Read the Source - Examples are designed to be educational - read the code!
5. Experiment - Modify examples to learn how GUN works

Tips for Learning

• Basic Examples: Perfect for understanding core GUN concepts
• Framework Examples: Learn how to integrate GUN with your preferred framework
• Server Examples: Understand different deployment options
• Advanced Examples: See production-ready patterns and architectures

Community Examples

The GUN community has created many additional examples:

• Nick’s React Apps - Advanced React + GUN applications
• Iris Components - Reusable web components

Need Help?

If you get stuck:

1. Check the GUN documentation
2. Join the community chat at chat.gun.eco
3. Search GitHub issues
4. Ask questions in the GUN forum

Next Steps

Chat App

Build a real-time chat application

Todo App

Learn CRUD operations with a todo list

Collaborative Editor

Build a real-time text editor

P2P Networking

Explore mesh networking patterns