Nova · AI Assistant

Nova AI Assistant — Instant answers, zero setup!

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Inspiration

We were inspired by the growing need for accessible AI assistants that can run instantly in the browser without requiring complex setup or cloud accounts. Many beginners and students want to explore AI without signing up for AWS or managing API keys. We also wanted to experiment with Amazon Nova 2 Lite and see how it could integrate with a lightweight frontend app.

What it does

Nova · AI Assistant is a web-based chat app that answers user questions using Amazon Nova 2 Lite. If AWS credentials are not available, it seamlessly falls back to mock AI responses, so anyone can try it instantly in their browser. Users can ask questions, view answers in a conversation history, copy responses, and toggle between light/dark themes.

How we built it

  • Frontend: Single-page JavaScript application handling the UI, question input, response rendering, history, theme toggle, and toast notifications.
  • Backend: Node.js + Express server that calls Amazon Nova 2 Lite via AWS Bedrock. If AWS keys are unavailable, it uses mock responses.
  • State management: In-memory and persisted via localStorage for conversation history and theme preferences.
  • Features: Auto-resizing textarea, keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Enter), character counter, copy-to-clipboard, and a fully responsive interface.

Challenges we ran into

  • Working with AWS Bedrock required credentials; we solved this by creating a mock AI fallback, so the app is fully functional without AWS.
  • Keeping the UI responsive and handling long conversation histories without performance issues.
  • Implementing smooth animations and theme persistence across sessions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Fully functional AI assistant that works both with real Nova 2 Lite and mock AI.
  • Responsive, single-file frontend that handles all major features (history, copy, dark/light mode).
  • Smooth integration of fallback mock responses for instant browser testing.
  • Easy to deploy anywhere, even locally, without requiring AWS.

What we learned

  • How to integrate Amazon Nova 2 Lite via Bedrock in a Node.js backend.
  • How to design robust mock AI systems that mimic real AI responses.
  • Frontend state management and localStorage persistence for a chat app.
  • Handling UX concerns like theme toggles, text counters, and toast notifications.

What's next for Nova · AI Assistant

  • Expand multi-modal support (images, voice, and documents) using Nova's multimodal embeddings.
  • Add agentic AI features with Nova Act to automate workflows directly from the chat interface.
  • Introduce a small plugin system so users can add their own mock responses or integrate other AI models.
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