PartyPoll Tutorial Starter is a starter-kit template for the official PartyKit tutorial that teaches you how to add realtime features to a Next.js 13 app by building a live poll. The template is a small GitHub repository that serves as the starting point for the step-by-step guide "Add PartyKit to a Next.js App" on docs.partykit.io, and it is maintained by the PartyKit team.
What is PartyPoll Tutorial Starter?
PartyPoll Tutorial Starter is a boilerplate repository on GitHub that contains the initial Next.js 13 project used in the PartyKit tutorial "Add PartyKit to a Next.js App." It takes a plain Next.js scaffolding as its starting state and produces a simple poll application where votes update in realtime across connected clients once the tutorial steps are completed. The template is publicly available under the PartyKit organization and serves as the companion code for the tutorial, a finished reference implementation, and a live demo.
Key Features
- Next.js 13 project — The starter is built on Next.js 13, giving you a familiar React-based framework for building the poll interface.
- Tailwind CSS and PostCSS — The project comes preconfigured with Tailwind CSS for styling and PostCSS for CSS processing, so you can jump straight into writing components.
- Realtime via PartyKit — The tutorial demonstrates how to connect this Next.js app to PartyKit to sync poll votes and presence in realtime.
- Official tutorial companion — The starter pairs directly with a step-by-step guide on docs.partykit.io, making it easy to follow along without setting up the base project yourself.
- Finished reference implementation — Links to the completed PartyPoll source code at github.com/partykit/partypoll, so you can compare your work against the final state.
- Live demo on Vercel — A deployed version of the finished app is available at partypoll.vercel.app, letting you see the realtime behavior before you start coding.
- Next.js Conf talk — The repository links to Sylwia Vargas' talk from the 2023 Next.js Conf, which walks through the same tutorial and adds context to the learning process.
Who is it for?
- Next.js developers — who want to learn how to add realtime functionality to their existing Next.js applications by following a hands-on, code-along tutorial.
- PartyKit newcomers — who are curious about how PartyKit integrates with a React/Next.js frontend and want a minimal project to experiment with.
- Conference talk viewers — who watched Sylwia Vargas' Next.js Conf talk and want the exact starter code used in the presentation.
What can you do with it?
- Follow the tutorial step by step: clone the starter, open the PartyKit docs, and apply each step to transform the project into a realtime poll app.
- Preview the final result: visit partypoll.vercel.app to see how the live poll behaves with multiple participants.
- Compare your implementation: after finishing the tutorial, diff your code against the finished github.com/partykit/partypoll repository to catch any mistakes.
How does it work?
The intended workflow is to clone the repository, install dependencies, and follow the step-by-step PartyKit tutorial. The tutorial walks you through adding PartyKit connection code, creating rooms for each poll, and broadcasting vote updates so all connected clients see changes in realtime. By the end, your local app matches the finished PartyPoll implementation linked in the repository.
Pros and cons
- Pros: The starter is tiny and focused, isolating the realtime integration so you can learn it without unrelated boilerplate; it is directly supported by official documentation and a conference talk.
- Cons: It is not a production-ready template — its purpose is educational, and the repository has only a handful of GitHub stars, so you should not treat it as a deployable poll product.
FAQ
Is PartyPoll Tutorial Starter free?
The starter is publicly available as a GitHub repository under the PartyKit organization. The tutorial and the live demo are also free to access based on the public links provided in the repository description.
What does PartyPoll Tutorial Starter do?
It provides the initial Next.js 13 project for the PartyKit tutorial "Add PartyKit to a Next.js App," so learners start from the exact codebase used in the tutorial rather than building a new project from scratch.
Do I need to know Next.js before using this?
Yes. The starter is a Next.js project, and the tutorial assumes you can run a Next.js development server locally. You should be comfortable with React components and basic JavaScript.
Where can I see the finished app?
The repository page links to the finished PartyPoll source code at github.com/partykit/partypoll and a live deployment at partypoll.vercel.app, both of which show the completed realtime poll.
Can I use this template in production?
This template is a tutorial starter kit, not a production boilerplate. It is designed for learning how to add PartyKit to a Next.js app and does not include authentication, database persistence, or other features required for a real deployed poll service.
