brain-of-reese/README.md

# 🧠 Brain of Reese

A chippy, honest **RAG chatbot** over the `~/Homelab` and `~/Deployments`
projects. Point it at your markdown docs, ask it anything — it retrieves
the relevant notes with **Postgres 17 + pgvector** cosine search, feeds the
**whole relevant document** to a **self-hosted LLM** (`turbo` via
`https://aipi.reeseapps.com/v1`), and streams a grounded answer back.

If it doesn't have notes for your question, it admits it:
*"I haven't done anything like that"* — plus suggestions for what it **does** know.

> **Updated your notes?** The knowledge base is refreshed by re-running the
> import — it's idempotent and only re-embeds what changed:
> ```bash
> uv run python -m scripts.import_docs --prune
> ```
> Details in [Updating the documents](#updating-the-documents).

- **Stack:** FastAPI · Pydantic v2 · SQLAlchemy 2 · Alembic · pgvector ·
  vanilla HTML/CSS/JS (no CDN) · Playwright E2E
- **Planning:** architecture, LOCKED decisions and the phase roadmap live
  in [`.agent/PLAN.md`](.agent/PLAN.md); per-story specs in
  [`.agent/user_stories/`](.agent/user_stories/).

---

## Development Setup

### Prerequisites
- [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/)
- [Podman](https://podman.io/) (with the `podman compose` provider)
- Node.js is **not** needed locally (asset minification happens in the
  container build only)

### 1. Install dependencies
```bash
uv sync
```

### 2. Configure
```bash
cp .env.example .env
# edit .env — the defaults already match the local compose setup.
# BOR_LLM_API_KEY: your aipi key (falls back to $AIPI_KEY if unset)
```

### 3. Start the database (Postgres 17 + pgvector)
```bash
podman compose up -d db
podman compose ps          # wait until "healthy"
```

### 4. Apply migrations
```bash
uv run alembic upgrade head
```

### 5. Import your knowledge base
```bash
uv run python -m scripts.llm_probe      # sanity: models + 768-dim check
uv run python -m scripts.import_docs    # defaults: ~/Homelab + ~/Deployments
```

### 6. Run the app
```bash
uv run uvicorn app.main:app --reload
# → http://localhost:8000  (chat)   http://localhost:8000/sources.html (KB)
```

> 📝 **After this, day-to-day is just: edit markdown → re-run the import.**
> See [Updating the documents](#updating-the-documents) below.

## Updating the documents

**This is the workflow you'll use most.** The knowledge base is refreshed by
**re-running the import**. It is idempotent and delta-based (sha256 per
file), so a refresh after a normal editing session takes seconds:

```bash
# After editing/adding/removing markdown in your projects:
uv run python -m scripts.import_docs                 # re-index what changed
uv run python -m scripts.import_docs --prune         # also drop deleted files

# Point it at extra directories (repeatable):
uv run python -m scripts.import_docs --source ~/SomeOtherDocs
```

Then check the **Sources** page (`http://localhost:8000/sources.html`):
the *documents* / *chunks* counters and *last indexed* timestamp should
reflect the new files, and each document row shows when it was last
embedded.

- The import prints one line per file (`import: added|updated|unchanged|
  pruned …`) and ends with a greppable summary (`import: summary files=…
  added=… updated=… unchanged=… pruned=… chunks=… embed_batches=…`), so it
  is safe to run from a cron job or after every commit.
- Only **`*.md`** files are indexed. Directories like `.venv`,
  `node_modules`, `.git`, `__pycache__`, `.pytest_cache`, `dist`, `build`
  are skipped (see `.agent/PLAN.md` anchor A9).
- Unchanged files are **not re-embedded** — only new/changed ones, so
  refreshes are cheap.
- To sanity-check the LLM backend (models + embedding dimension) after any
  aipi change: `uv run python -m scripts.llm_probe`.

## Debugging

`debugpy` is **off by default** and *never imported* unless you opt in —
zero overhead in normal runs.

```bash
DEBUGPY=1 uv run uvicorn app.main:app
# → log line: debugpy: remote debugging ENABLED, listening on 0.0.0.0:5678
```

Then attach from VS Code (`.vscode/launch.json`):
```json
{
  "name": "Attach to Brain of Reese",
  "type": "debugpy",
  "request": "attach",
  "connect": { "host": "localhost", "port": 5678 },
  "pathMappings": [
    { "localRoot": "${workspaceFolder}", "remoteRoot": "/app" }
  ]
}
```
The port is non-blocking and attach-on-demand: the app keeps running
normally until you attach. Override the port with `DEBUGPY_PORT`.

## QA / Testing Environment

Three layers — the project rule is **one story, one phase, one Playwright
suite** (see `AGENTS.md`):

```bash
# Unit + integration (FastAPI TestClient)
uv run pytest

# Same, with the coverage gate (phases require >90% on app/)
uv run pytest --cov=app --cov-report=term-missing

# Lint + static types
uv run ruff check .
uv run pyright

# Playwright E2E — install the browser once:
uv run playwright install chromium

# Each story's E2E runs IN ISOLATION (DB must be up):
podman compose up -d db
uv run pytest tests/e2e/test_import_documents.py -v --no-cov
uv run pytest tests/e2e/test_chat_rag.py -v --no-cov
# ...one file per story in .agent/user_stories/ (see .agent/phases/todo/)
```

**Deterministic E2E:** by default the E2E app talks to a local **mock
aipi** (`tests/e2e/mock_llm.py`) whose embeddings are real
token-overlap vectors — so the cosine relevance threshold behaves like
production (on-topic questions answer, off-topic ones deflect).
To run E2E against the **live** self-hosted models instead:

```bash
E2E_REAL_LLM=1 uv run pytest tests/e2e/test_chat_rag.py -v --no-cov
```
(requires a real import of your docs first).

## Production Deployment

Build the multi-stage image (frontend minified by esbuild in the builder
stage, deps installed by `uv`, non-root runtime):

```bash
podman build -t brain-of-reese/app:latest .
```

Run standalone (bring your own Postgres + pgvector):
```bash
podman run -d --name brain-of-reese \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -e BOR_DATABASE_URL=postgresql+psycopg://reese:SECRETPASSWORD@dbhost:5432/brain_of_reese \
  -e BOR_LLM_BASE_URL=https://aipi.reeseapps.com/v1 \
  -e BOR_LLM_API_KEY=$AIPI_KEY \
  brain-of-reese/app:latest
```
The entrypoint runs `alembic upgrade head` automatically on start.

Or run the whole stack from compose (app + db):
```bash
podman compose --profile prod up -d --build
```

Production hardening notes: app runs as non-root (uid 10001), slim image,
healthcheck on `/api/health`, debugpy off unless `DEBUGPY=1`, all assets
served locally (no CDN), `BOR_ENVIRONMENT=production`.

## Configuration reference

| Env | Default | Meaning |
|-----|---------|---------|
| `BOR_DATABASE_URL` | local compose URL | SQLAlchemy URL (psycopg) |
| `BOR_LLM_BASE_URL` | `https://aipi.reeseapps.com/v1` | OpenAI-compatible endpoint |
| `BOR_LLM_API_KEY` | — (falls back to `$AIPI_KEY`) | aipi API key |
| `BOR_LLM_CHAT_MODEL` | `turbo` | chat model |
| `BOR_LLM_EMBED_MODEL` | `embed` | embedding model |
| `BOR_EMBEDDING_DIM` | `768` | vector dimension (fixed at table creation) |
| `BOR_TOP_K_CHUNKS` | `4` | chunks retrieved per question |
| `BOR_TOP_N_DOCS` | `2` | full documents fed to the LLM |
| `BOR_RELEVANCE_THRESHOLD` | `0.30` | best cosine similarity required to answer; below ⇒ honest deflection |
| `BOR_MAX_CONTEXT_CHARS` | `24000` | cap on total document text sent to the LLM |
| `BOR_SUGGESTIONS` | built-in list | JSON list of onboarding chips |
| `DEBUGPY` | `0` | `1` ⇒ attach-on-demand debugpy on `DEBUGPY_PORT` (default 5678) |
| `BOR_LOG_LEVEL` | `INFO` | app log level |

## Troubleshooting

- **`401` from aipi** — set `BOR_LLM_API_KEY` (or `$AIPI_KEY`).
- **`litellm.UnsupportedParamsError … encoding_format` from aipi** — the
  aipi proxy (litellm `openai_like`) rejects the `encoding_format` parameter
  that the `openai` SDK injects into every embeddings request. The app
  already works around this by POSTing a minimal `{model, input}` payload
  through the openai client's own httpx transport (`app/rag/llm.py` →
  `LLMClient._embed_batch`). If you see this, you are likely calling the
  endpoint with a different client — drop the parameter (or set
  `litellm.drop_params = True` on the proxy).
- **Embedding dimension mismatch** — aipi changed models; run
  `uv run python -m scripts.llm_probe`, update `BOR_EMBEDDING_DIM`, then
  drop + recreate the chunks table (new migration or manual `TRUNCATE
  chunks, documents`).
- **Honest deflection (the amber “I haven't done anything like that”
  bubble)** — every question passes the honesty gate: when the best
  cosine similarity is below `BOR_RELEVANCE_THRESHOLD` (default `0.30`),
  Brain switches to deflection mode instead of guessing. The LLM prompt
  then carries weak-hit *titles only* (no document content), the reply
  opens with “I haven't done anything like that”, the bubble renders
  amber with “Maybe try” chips derived from the closest indexed titles,
  the SSE `done` event carries `deflected: true` + `suggestions[]`, and
  the `query_log` row records `deflected=true` + the weak `top_score`.
  This is a feature, not a bug — the KB simply has no notes that close;
  the chips always point at topics Brain really covers.
- **Answers deflect too often / too rarely** — tune
  `BOR_RELEVANCE_THRESHOLD` (lower = answers more, higher = more honest
  deflection): `0.0` ⇒ every question gets answered, even unknown topics
  (expect confident-sounding guesses); `1.0` ⇒ everything deflects
  (nothing but a perfect 1.0 score counts as relevant). After changing
  it, check the real scores:
  `psql … -c 'SELECT question, top_score, deflected FROM query_log ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20'`
- **KB offline banner in the chat** — Postgres isn't running:
  `podman compose up -d db`.
- **Stuck "Thinking…"** — the LLM is slow or down; a 120s client timeout
  turns it into an error banner automatically.