SIT Chatbot

SIT Chatbot with friendly otter assistant.

This project is a chatbot application designed for SIT, featuring a friendly otter assistant. It utilizes a Node.js backend for handling API requests and a Python backend for AI functionalities, with a frontend built using webpack.

Table of Contents

• About The Project
• Built With
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
• Usage
• Project Structure
• License

About The Project

The SIT Chatbot aims to provide an interactive and engaging experience for users seeking information or assistance related to SIT. The friendly otter assistant adds a unique touch to the user interface.

Key features:

• Interactive chat interface
• Dual backend system (Node.js and Python)
• Webpack for frontend asset bundling

Built With

This project utilizes the following major frameworks and libraries:

Frontend:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

Backend (Node.js):

• Express.js
• @elevenlabs/client

Backend (Python):

• FastAPI
• Uvicorn

Getting Started

To get a local copy up and running, follow these simple steps.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following software installed on your system:

• Node.js and npm (Node Package Manager)

  # Check if installed
  node -v
  npm -v

• Python and pip (Python Package Installer)

  # Check if installed
  python --version
  pip --version

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Finance-LLMs/SIT-chatbot.git
   cd SIT-chatbot

2. Set up environment variables: Create a .env file in the root directory of the project. You can copy the example or create it manually.

   # For Windows (using Command Prompt or PowerShell)
   copy .env.example .env # If you have an example file
   notepad .env          # To create and edit a new .env file

   # For Linux/macOS
   cp .env.example .env # If you have an example file
   vim .env             # To create and edit a new .env file

   Add necessary environment variables to this file (e.g., API keys, database URIs). Refer to the specific backend documentation or code for required variables.

3. Install frontend dependencies:

   npm install

4. Install backend dependencies (Python):

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

There are a couple of ways to run the application, depending on whether you want to run the Node.js backend or the Python backend.

Running with Node.js Backend

1. Build the frontend assets:

   npm run build

2. Start the Node.js backend server:

   npm run start:backend

   Alternatively, to build and start the Node.js backend together:

   npm start

Running with Python Backend (using Uvicorn)

1. Build the frontend assets (if not already done):

   npm run build

2. Start the Python backend server:

   npm run start:python

   This command will typically run: uvicorn backend.server:app --reload --port 3000

Running in Development Mode (Node.js backend with Webpack Dev Server)

For a development environment with hot reloading for the frontend and concurrent backend execution:

npm run dev

This command uses concurrently to run both the Node.js backend (npm run start:backend) and the webpack development server (webpack serve --mode development).

After starting the application using any of the above methods, you can access the chatbot by navigating to:

http://localhost:3000/

(Or the port specified by your webpack dev server, typically http://localhost:8080/ if npm run dev is used and the Python backend is not on port 3000).

Project Structure

Here's an overview of the key files and directories:

SIT-chatbot/
├── backend/
│   ├── server.js         # Node.js backend server
│   └── server.py         # Python backend server (FastAPI)
├── src/
│   ├── app.js            # Main frontend JavaScript logic
│   ├── index.html        # Main HTML file for the frontend
│   ├── styles.css        # CSS styles for the frontend
│   └── sit-data/
│       └── logo.png      # Project logo
├── .env                  # Environment variables (create this file)
├── package.json          # npm package configuration, scripts, and frontend dependencies
├── README.md             # This file
├── requirements.txt      # Python backend dependencies
└── webpack.config.js     # Webpack configuration for building frontend assets

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.