Aside: open-source ad server for AI chat apps that keeps conversations on your own server

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The author built Aside, an open-source ad server that lets developers monetize free AI chat apps without sending conversations to third parties. Existing options are limited: ad networks typically need to read user conversations and take a revenue cut, building an in-house system takes weeks, and static banners perform poorly. Aside runs next to the app on the developer's own infrastructure, matching ads to the user's latest message locally using a small embedding model and returning nothing when relevance falls below a threshold. It also blocks ads on sensitive topics such as self-harm, medical emergencies, grief and financial distress, and enforces budgets, frequency caps, a second-price auction and signed, deduplicated click tracking, while storing no chat text.

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