This ChatGPT clone is dead; long live ChatbotUI

What it does

chatgpt-mirror was a straightforward Node.js web UI that proxied requests to OpenAI’s gpt-3.5-turbo API. You plugged in your key, optionally routed through an HTTP or SOCKS proxy, and got a local ChatGPT-like interface on port 3000. Docker support and a JSON config file for custom error messages rounded out the feature set.

The interesting bit

The whole repo is now a redirect sign. The README opens with an archive warning pointing to ChatbotUI — a rare case of a maintainer explicitly shepherding users to a successor rather than letting the project quietly rot.

Key highlights

• Built for Node.js 18.x, packaged with pnpm
• Docker-ready with bind-mount config support
• Customizable OpenAI API error messages via JSON config
• Proxy support for HTTP/SOCKS out of the box
• MIT licensed, with credit to the chatgpt-api library

Caveats

• Archived and unmaintained; the author explicitly recommends migrating
• README is thin on architecture details — unclear if it handles streaming, conversation history, or multi-user sessions
• “Mirror” is a stretch; it’s a standard API client with a web frontend

Verdict

Skip it. If you’re already running this, follow the maintainer’s own advice and move to ChatbotUI. If you’re shopping for a self-hosted ChatGPT UI, start there instead.