diff --git a/src/pages/api/chat.ts b/src/pages/api/chat.ts
index c13a827..8dfce4e 100644
--- a/src/pages/api/chat.ts
+++ b/src/pages/api/chat.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 import { env } from "../../env/server.mjs";
 import { type NextApiRequest, type NextApiResponse } from "next";
 import { PromptableApi } from "promptable";
-import { getReply } from "../../server/chat/gpt3";
+import { BOT_VERSION } from "../../server/chat/botConfig";
+import { getReply as getOriginalReply } from "../../server/chat/gpt3";
+import { getReply as getAlternateReply } from "../../server/chat/gpt3Alternate";
+
+const getReply = BOT_VERSION === 'original' ? getOriginalReply : getAlternateReply;
+
 import { Configuration, OpenAIApi } from "openai";
 
 export const EMPATHY_PROMPT_ID = "clcj71xae00a0i6eghu9v7xbo";
diff --git a/src/server/chat/botConfig.ts b/src/server/chat/botConfig.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f3e5be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server/chat/botConfig.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// src/server/chat/botConfig.ts
+export const BOT_VERSION = 'original'; // can be 'original' or 'alternate'
diff --git a/src/server/chat/gpt3Alternate.ts b/src/server/chat/gpt3Alternate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..368f67f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/server/chat/gpt3Alternate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { Message } from "../../../types";
+
+export async function getReply(message: Message): Promise<string> {
+  // TODO: Implement your alternate response generation strategy here.
+  
+  // For now, let's just return a placeholder message:
+  return "I'm the alternate version of the chat bot. Nice to meet you!";
+}