React (Vite) contact form �Formspree alternative with AI spam filtering

Contact form for a Vite + React app, posting JSON to SmartForm AI.

What you're POSTing

The endpoint accepts a standard HTML form POST or JSON via AJAX. Two kinds of fields:

Your form fields â€?name, email, message, whatever you want. Every non-reserved field lands in your dashboard as a column in the submissions table.

Reserved fields â€?names starting with _ are interpreted by the API, not stored:

Field	Purpose
_gotcha	Honeypot. Keep it empty. Hidden from humans via CSS; bots fill it automatically. Any non-empty value silently drops the submission. Add this to every form.
_hp_email / _website / _url / _phone	Honeypot aliases for _gotcha (WordPress / WPForms / Contact Form 7 migrations). Same drop semantics.
_next	Same-origin URL to redirect to after a successful submission. Browser POST results in a 302 here. AJAX calls (with Accept: application/json) get the same value back as next_url in the JSON response. Only http(s) and in-site paths allowed.
_subject	Override the AI-generated email subject line. Max 200 chars; control characters stripped.
X-Gotcha header	Same as _gotcha for JSON requests where you can't add a hidden form field.

Field names are Formspree-compatible â€?migrating from formspree.io/f/{form_id} requires no renaming.

Setup

1. Get a form ID at https://usesmartform.com/dashboard.
2. Clone, install, configure, run:

   git clone https://github.com/smartformai/smartform-example-vite-react.git
   cd smartform-example-vite-react
   npm install
   cp .env.example .env
   # edit .env �VITE_SMARTFORM_FORM_ID=your_real_id
   npm run dev

3. Open http://localhost:5173, submit, check your dashboard.

The form

src/ContactForm.tsx is a controlled React component that POSTs JSON to the SmartForm endpoint and shows an inline status message.

import { useState } from 'react';

const FORM_ID = import.meta.env.VITE_SMARTFORM_FORM_ID;
const ENDPOINT = 'https://api.usesmartform.com/api/v1/f';

export function ContactForm() {
  const [status, setStatus] = useState('');
  if (!FORM_ID) return <p>Set VITE_SMARTFORM_FORM_ID in .env first.</p>;

  async function onSubmit(e: React.FormEvent<HTMLFormElement>) {
    e.preventDefault();
    setStatus('Sending�);
    const data = Object.fromEntries(new FormData(e.currentTarget));
    try {
      const r = await fetch(`${ENDPOINT}/${FORM_ID}`, {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'application/json' },
        body: JSON.stringify(data),
      });
      const body = await r.json();
      setStatus(`Sent! submission_id=${body.submission_id} intent=${body.intent}`);
    } catch (err: any) {
      setStatus(`Error: ${err.message}`);
    }
  }

  return (
    <form onSubmit={onSubmit}>
      <input name="name"  placeholder="Name"  required />
      <input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Email" required />
      <textarea name="message" placeholder="Message" required />
      <input type="text" name="_gotcha" tabIndex={-1} autoComplete="off"
             style={{ position: 'absolute', left: -9999 }} aria-hidden />
      <button type="submit">Send</button>
      <p>{status}</p>
    </form>
  );
}

How the API works

• POST {endpoint}/api/v1/f/{form_id} â€?JSON or form-data, no API key.
• Response: { success, message, submission_id, is_spam, intent, next_url }.

For the full contract, see https://usesmartform.com/docs.

Deploy

npm run build         # static output in ./dist
npx vercel --prod     # or netlify deploy --prod, wrangler pages deploy ./dist

Set VITE_SMARTFORM_FORM_ID in your hosting dashboard's environment variables.

FAQ

Is there a free tier?

Yes. AI spam filtering is enabled by default on every plan. AI intent classification and high-value lead detection require a paid plan (Pro or Business) �the dashboard enforces this and returns HTTP 402 if you try to enable them on a free workspace.

Do I need an API key?

No. The form posts directly to a public endpoint using only an 8-char form ID, which is non-enumerable. The example also includes a hidden _gotcha honeypot field so naive bots cannot submit.

Do I need a backend?

No. The form posts JSON to the public endpoint. The example is a plain React component with inline status, no build server required.

Related examples

Vite + Vue 3 contact form | Angular contact form | smartform-js SDK

License

MIT.