Chainlit: A Scalable Conversational AI Framework

Chainlit is an open-source, asynchronous Python framework designed for building robust and scalable conversational AI applications. It offers a flexible foundation, allowing developers to integrate external APIs, custom logic, and local models seamlessly.

This tutorial demonstrates two Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) implementations within Chainlit:

1. Leveraging OpenAI Assistants with uploaded documents.
2. Utilizing llama_index with a local document folder.

Local Chainlit Setup

Virtual Environment

Create a virtual environment:

mkdir chainlit && cd chainlit
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Install Dependencies

Install required packages and save dependencies:

pip install chainlit
pip install llama_index  # For implementation #2
pip install openai
pip freeze > requirements.txt

Test Chainlit

Start Chainlit:

chainlit hello

Access the placeholder at http://www.miracleart.cn/link/2674cea93e3214abce13e072a2dc2ca5

Upsun Deployment

Git Initialization

Initialize a Git repository:

git init .

Create a .gitignore file:

<code>.env
database/**
data/**
storage/**
.chainlit
venv
__pycache__</code>

Upsun Project Creation

Create an Upsun project using the CLI (follow prompts). Upsun will automatically configure the remote repository.

Configuration

Example Upsun configuration for Chainlit:

applications:
  chainlit:
    source:
      root: "/"
    type: "python:3.11"
    mounts:
      "/database":
        source: "storage"
        source_path: "database"
      ".files":
        source: "storage"
        source_path: "files"
      "__pycache__":
        source: "storage"
        source_path: "pycache"
      ".chainlit":
        source: "storage"
        source_path: ".chainlit"
    web:
      commands:
        start: "chainlit run app.py --port $PORT --host 0.0.0.0"
      upstream:
        socket_family: tcp
      locations:
        "/":
          passthru: true
        "/public":
          passthru: true
    build:
      flavor: none
    hooks:
      build: |
        set -eux
        pip install -r requirements.txt
      deploy: |
        set -eux
      # post_deploy: |
routes:
  "https://{default}/":
    type: upstream
    upstream: "chainlit:http"
  "https://www.{default}":
    type: redirect
    to: "https://{default}/"

Set the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable via Upsun CLI:

upsun variable:create env:OPENAI_API_KEY --value=sk-proj[...]

Deployment

Commit and deploy:

git add .
git commit -m "First chainlit example"
upsun push

Review the deployment status. Successful deployment will show Chainlit running on your main environment.

Implementation 1: OpenAI Assistant & Uploaded Files

This implementation uses an OpenAI assistant to process uploaded documents.

Assistant Creation

Create a new OpenAI assistant on the OpenAI Platform. Set system instructions, choose a model (with text response format), and keep the temperature low (e.g., 0.10). Copy the assistant ID (asst_[xxx]) and set it as an environment variable:

upsun variable:create env:OPENAI_ASSISTANT_ID --value=asst_[...]

Content Upload

Upload your documents (Markdown preferred) to the assistant. OpenAI will create a vector store.

Assistant Logic (app.py)

Replace app.py content with the provided code. Key parts: @cl.on_chat_start creates a new OpenAI thread, and @cl.on_message sends user messages to the thread and streams the response.

Commit and deploy the changes. Test the assistant.

Implementation 2: OpenAI llama_index

This implementation uses llama_index for local knowledge management and OpenAI for response generation.

Branch Creation

Create a new branch:

mkdir chainlit && cd chainlit
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Folder Creation and Mounts

Create data and storage folders. Add mounts to the Upsun configuration.

app.py Update

Update app.py with the provided llama_index code. This code loads documents, creates a VectorStoreIndex, and uses it to answer queries via OpenAI.

Deploy the new environment and upload the data folder. Test the application.

Bonus: Authentication

Add authentication using a SQLite database.

Database Setup

Create a database folder and add a mount to the Upsun configuration. Create an environment variable for the database path:

pip install chainlit
pip install llama_index  # For implementation #2
pip install openai
pip freeze > requirements.txt

Authentication Logic (app.py)

Add authentication logic to app.py using @cl.password_auth_callback. This adds a login form.

Create a script to generate hashed passwords. Add users to the database (using hashed passwords). Deploy the authentication and test login.

Conclusion

This tutorial demonstrated deploying a Chainlit application on Upsun with two RAG implementations and authentication. The flexible architecture allows for various adaptations and integrations.

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