BrainDrive Development Progress Updates

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Hi All,

Here is the recording from today’s dev call livestream followed by an AI powered summary of the discussion. We Livestream every Monday at 10am EST. We’d love it if you’d join us live and are also happy to address any questions, concerns, and ideas you have here in the forum. Just hit the reply button.

Thanks
Dave

Recording:

AI Powered Summary:

What BrainDrive Is (quick overview given on call)

  • MIT-licensed, modular alternative to ChatGPT that you own and control.
  • Frontend: React. Backend: FastAPI.
  • Default plugins: Chat interface, Ollama (local models), OpenRouter (API models).
  • Plugin Manager: 1-click install from GitHub, supports local zip install.
  • Docs at docs.brainedrive.ai; community at community.brainedrive.ai.
  • Roadmap phases: License → Foundation (ownership over interface/intelligence/memory/hosting/connections) → V1 polish (current) → Build → Monetize → Community-led innovation.

Dashboard & UX Improvements

  • Dashboard links added to key resources (docs, community, etc.). More contextual links planned project-wide.
  • Theme: default switched to Dark; removed “white flash” on auth/login.
  • Pages landing content updated; future: pin/favorite pages, folders, and “most used” tiles.

Quality & Fixes

  • Tasks timestamp fix: background task dates now reflect local timezone (not UTC).
  • System info export: Profile → Open System Info → downloadable JSON with non-sensitive environment details (OS, browser, commit, plugins & versions) to include in GitHub issues. Keys/chat content never included.

Models & Providers

  • Ollama models + background tasks: downloads now tracked in Tasks; progress also mirrored on the model page.
  • OpenRouter plugin:
    • Shows costs, token info, availability; quick model testing.
    • API key stored encrypted; masked in UI.
    • Optional plugin—skip if running fully local.

Personas

  • Personas = named system prompts + parameters for chats.
  • Quick edit: clicking a persona card opens editor.
  • Parameters framework expanded internally to enable future settings.

Plugin Install UX (big cleanup)

  • Old “long landing page” replaced with compact drop-link/drag-file UI and immediate feedback.
  • Supports:
    • GitHub URL install
    • Local .zip install (for private/custom plugins)
  • Security notice present (to be unified across flows).

Page Builder (recap)

  • Drag-and-drop pages from plugin modules; can mix modules from multiple plugins.
  • Publish to “Your Pages” with one click.
  • Demo showed non-chat experiences (e.g., small game) built via the same system.

Chat Interface Updates

  • Model picker includes OpenRouter models (filterable, e.g., “free”) and local Ollama models.
  • Persona selector integrated; persona adherence bugs from 2 weeks ago fixed.

“CAG” / Context Augmentation (First Step of “Chat with Docs”)

  • New document upload to chat context:
    • Accepts text/ASCII files (e.g., .md). (PDF support planned via a PDF-reader plugin; full-text docs offline reading planned.)
    • Two modes:
      • One-shot (no DB save; ephemeral)
      • Save to conversation (stored with chat; lives in DB)
    • Internals (MVP): document is segmented into window-fit segments; injected as context to the LLM (no vectors/metadata yet).
  • Demo validated: baseline “What is BrainDrive?” answer was wrong before; accurate after loading the whitepaper.
  • Note: temperature was high during some tests; hallucination caveat shown in UI.

DevRel, Docs & Community

  • Plugins now live in the Community (ad-hoc marketplace for now).
  • Intro course: “How to own your own AI system” — 9 lessons, text course done; videos planned. Designed for non-technical setup to fully working BrainDrive.
  • Navaneeth building Y-Finder: first community use-case plugin (helps users “find their why”); rock-paper-scissors was his first test plugin.

Avatar System (Novel Knowledge Packaging) — Concept & Early Demo

  • Problem with traditional RAG: setup complexity (DBs, embeddings, migrations), non-technical friction, varied local hardware.
  • Avatar idea: Modular, tradeable knowledge bases as PNG images containing embedded data (chunks + lightweight vector/graph structure). Think “trading cards for knowledge.”
  • Vision:
    • Create “Dave Jones — BrainDrive Dev” avatar; add more cards (e.g., D&D) and compose them at chat time.
    • Share/sell knowledge cards; build a decentralized knowledge economy where creators benefit.
    • Personas apply over avatars; supports multiple avatars combined (e.g., compare two sports teams’ stats).
    • Conversations/history could be stored inside the avatar; future editor to curate avatar contents (add/remove/fix).
  • Proof-of-concept:
    • Server side MCP source + plugin; image drag-drop → upload → use as context.
    • Worked in late-week demo; minor demo glitch live (still pre-pre-beta).
  • Next steps:
    • Build creator/editor UI for avatars.
    • Backend hooks to let plugins replace/extend pipeline stages (true modular backend).
    • Reconcile chat-doc upload + avatar creation/attachment flows (see “Memory UX” below).