Morphic

AI-powered search with a generative UI, deployed on Render with Exa neural search and managed PostgreSQL

Morphic is an open-source AI search engine: grounded answers, cited sources, and rich inline components streamed from the model. This Render example wires Morphic for a minimal production stack (Docker web service + Postgres + Exa) without self-hosted SearXNG or Redis.

Table of Contents

• What This App Does
• What This Demonstrates
• Architecture
• Quick Start
• Deploy to Render
• Configuration
• Troubleshooting
• Upstream Documentation
• License

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What This App Does

Users ask research-style questions in a chat UI. Morphic searches the web via Exa, calls an LLM (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or others), and streams back a cited answer with optional generative UI blocks (images, grids, follow-ups).

User experience

1. Ask a question — e.g. "What are the latest Postgres 17 features?"
2. Pick a model — the selector shows providers you configured via API keys
3. Get cited answers — sources, summaries, and structured components inline
4. Return later — chat history persists in PostgreSQL (anonymous mode by default)

Key features

• Exa search — neural web search without running SearXNG yourself
• Generative UI — streamed JSON spec renders rich components beyond markdown
• Multi-provider LLMs — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama, Vercel AI Gateway
• Quick and Adaptive search modes
• Shareable chat URLs and optional Supabase auth (disabled in this example)

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What This Demonstrates

Render capabilities

• Web Service (Docker) — multi-stage Dockerfile builds Next.js 16; migrations run on container start
• Managed PostgreSQL — chat history via Drizzle ORM; DATABASE_URL wired from the database resource
• Blueprint (render.yaml) — one project, one environment, env group for shared config
• Environment groups — non-secret defaults (SEARCH_API=exa, anonymous mode) in one place

Why this layout

Docker Compose upstream bundles Postgres, Redis, and SearXNG. On Render, Exa replaces SearXNG and managed Postgres replaces the local database, so you run two billable resources instead of four services.

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Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Browser                                                     │
│  Next.js 16 app (chat UI, model selector, generative UI)    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                          ↓ HTTPS
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  morphic — Render Web Service (Docker, Standard plan)        │
│  - Next.js API routes (/api/chat, etc.)                      │
│  - Drizzle migrations on boot (docker-entrypoint.sh)         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
         ↓                              ↓
┌──────────────────┐          ┌──────────────────┐
│  morphic-db      │          │  Exa API          │
│  Postgres 17     │          │  (SEARCH_API=exa) │
│  chat history    │          └──────────────────┘
└──────────────────┘                    ↓
                               ┌──────────────────┐
                               │  LLM provider     │
                               │  (Anthropic, etc.)│
                               └──────────────────┘

Resource	Plan	Role
morphic	Standard	Docker web service from ./Dockerfile
morphic-db	basic-256mb	PostgreSQL 17 — Drizzle migrations on startup
morphic-render (env group)	—	Shared non-secret config (SEARCH_API, anonymous mode)

Default region: oregon (change in render.yaml).

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Quick Start

Run locally with Docker Compose (includes SearXNG + Redis):

git clone https://github.com/render-examples/morphic.git
cd morphic
cp .env.local.example .env.local
# Set OPENAI_API_KEY (or another provider) in .env.local
docker compose up -d

Visit http://localhost:3000.

For local development without Docker, see upstream Installation.

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Deploy to Render

1. Gather API keys

Before clicking deploy, have these ready:

Key	Where to get it
EXA_API_KEY	dashboard.exa.ai
One LLM key	e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google AI

You can set the LLM key at Apply or in the Dashboard after the first deploy. Do not leave placeholder values like REPLACE_ME.

2. One-click deploy

Render reads render.yaml and provisions:

• PostgreSQL database (morphic-db)
• Docker web service (morphic) in project morphic
• Environment group morphic-render (search provider, anonymous mode, TLS workaround for managed Postgres)

On Apply, enter EXA_API_KEY. Optionally add an LLM key now; otherwise add it on the morphic service Environment page after deploy.

First deploy typically takes 5–10 minutes (Docker build + Next.js compile + migrations).

3. After deploy

1. Open the morphic service URL from the Dashboard.
2. If the model selector is empty, add ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, or GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY on the service and redeploy if needed.
3. Run a test query. Check Logs for migration success (Migrations completed) and search errors.

Environment group

Group	Contents	Linked to
morphic-render	SEARCH_API=exa, ENABLE_AUTH=false, ANONYMOUS_USER_ID, NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0	morphic web service

DATABASE_URL and DATABASE_RESTRICTED_URL are injected per-service from morphic-db (database links cannot live in env groups).

NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 is required for Render's managed Postgres TLS with upstream Morphic's strict Node TLS verification. Prefer fixing verification in application code for production hardening.

4. Estimated cost (Oregon)

Resource	~USD/mo
morphic (Standard)	25
morphic-db (basic-256mb)	6
Render subtotal	~31

Exa and LLM usage are billed separately by those providers.

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Configuration

Required secrets

Variable	Purpose
EXA_API_KEY	Exa neural search
One LLM key	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, or GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY

Wired automatically

Variable	Source
DATABASE_URL	morphic-db connection string
DATABASE_RESTRICTED_URL	Same Postgres instance
SEARCH_API	exa (env group)
ENABLE_AUTH	false — anonymous single-user mode
ANONYMOUS_USER_ID	anonymous-user

Optional overrides

See upstream CONFIGURATION.md:

• Multi-user auth: ENABLE_AUTH=true + Supabase env vars
• Different search: SEARCH_API=tavily + TAVILY_API_KEY
• File uploads: Cloudflare R2 / S3-compatible vars
• Rate limiting: MORPHIC_CLOUD_DEPLOYMENT=true + Upstash Redis

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Deploy stuck / health check fails	Check logs for OOM. Starter (512 MB) is often too small; this Blueprint uses Standard.
"No open ports detected"	Process died before binding $PORT. Check build logs and bump plan if OOM.
Search errors	Confirm EXA_API_KEY and SEARCH_API=exa.
"We could not generate a response"	Set a real LLM API key. Remove any placeholder OPENAI_API_KEY=REPLACE_ME.
No chat history	Confirm morphic-db is Available and migrations completed in logs.
Postgres SSL errors	Ensure NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 is set via the morphic-render env group.

Report app bugs upstream: miurla/morphic issues
Report this example's deploy wiring: render-examples/morphic issues

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Upstream Documentation

This repo tracks miurla/morphic with Render-specific render.yaml and the example README above.

• Configuration
• Docker guide
• Live demo (upstream)

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License

• Morphic application: Apache-2.0 (upstream)
• Render example wiring: same as upstream unless noted otherwise in this repo