Chat w/ Documents Plugin Development Updates

Help Build BrainDrive
61

Thanks Dave should I see if @beck can join our call tomorrow or not needed at this time?

Thanks
Dave W.

62

If he needs, sure.

I tried to pass these along in a few different ways and each time what should be easy, just became more and more time consuming.

In the rar below on my drive is 2 files; the webpack and the lifecycle manager, basically the issue is you had the 2 things named the same and the functionality that strips unneeded info took out both sides of that naming structure. I personally never do this as it just causes confusion especially when attempting to explain it to others but I did make that piece of code in the frontend to be looked at during code clean up.

Once I cleaned up the issue, the module displayed just fine.

While I was able to get this to work, getting the docker aspect of this to work was another matter, one I have not solved yet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DCBkVFJv-TUlKTv4R8uyxNyDsOzuOIiK/view?usp=sharing

63

Thanks. It looks like a google drive link may have been included there is there something we need to look at there or was that an error? If itā€™s something we need to look at pls make it viewable.

Thanks!
Dave W.

64

I thought I had provided access, this should be open now

I would have just attached it but zip and rars are not permitted, just images

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DCBkVFJv-TUlKTv4R8uyxNyDsOzuOIiK/view?usp=sharing

1 Like
65

thanks @DJJones ,

renaming the module name, different to plugin name, resolved the issue. Now page loads fine.

1 Like
66

Hi team,

Iā€™ve merged the branch feature/plugin_settings_and_service_restart into main via PR #78.

Summary of changes:

  • Added new Alembic migration 9f65d0e59c6f to create plugin_service_runtime table with definition_id, and environment variable support.
  • Backend improvements for plugin service lifecycle: restart, startup handling, and background service setup.
  • Frontend UX/UI enhancements for managing plugin service environment variables.

Next steps:

  • @DJJones : Please review and merge this PR if everything looks good. Take note of the new Alembic migration when running the backend.
  • @davewaring : Please test the Chat with Documents Plugin after the merge. I will send you the required environment variables by email. Make sure Docker Desktop is running before testing the plugin.

Thanks,
Beck

67

No problem, I am just wrapping up a plugin update and then will pull the PR to check out.

Thank you

68

I did a quick test, I canā€™t debug it yet as to why but there is a migration issue.

There are 2 different migrations for this table, the first one I am willing to bet is from your first PR the other day and now this one. (Just assuming based on a glance at a test search).

Not sure how you want this handled so I will leave it to you for the moment.

69

Thanks Dave. @beck my understanding from my call today with Dave is that there is an issue that we are waiting for you to resolve here before I can test. Here is that portion of the discussion.

Can you have a look and let me know when it is resovled or if there are any questions or clarifications needed from Dave J on this?

Thanks
Dave

70

Hi @DJJones @davewaring ,

Thanks for the feedback on the migration issue. Iā€™ve cleaned things up:

This resolves the duplicate migration problem (tested on existing and new database).

Next steps:

  • @DJJones ā€“ Please review the updated PR when you get a chance.
  • @davewaring ā€“ Once merged, you should be able to test the Chat with Documents Plugin without running into migration issues.

Let me know if you hit any other blockers.

Thanks,
Beck

1 Like
71

Sorry for the delay, been trying to resolve an issue..

I did one test already which involves a new registration, it handled the new PR code perfectly. I still want to try an existing user to see how it handles things and then will merge. So maybe this evening or tomorrow morning (my time EST/New York)

Edit
Second test for migration with an existing user worked based on my tests

Edit
This was merged into the core this morning, I didnā€™t have a chance to test the entire plugin code.

72

Hi @DJJones,

I removed sample env variables from .env-dev as we no longer need them.

Please review and merge when you have a chance:

Thanks,
Beck

1 Like
73

Hi @DJJones ,

I increased service runtime health check timeout from 30s to 100s.

Please merge when you have a chance:

Thanks,
Beck

74

Hi @DJJones ,

Iā€™ve implemented the fast Docker restart logic in this PR:

Title: feat: Implement fast Docker service restart and conditional rebuild logic

This merge implements the separation of Docker build and run steps to ensure plugin service restarts (e.g., after updating ENV vars) are nearly instant.

Please review and merge when you have a chance:

Best regards,
Beck

75

Thank you, this has been merged this morning so it should be ready for you and Dave to test based on your scheduled meetings.

1 Like
76

Hi All,

Iā€™m late to the posting here but better late than never!

Here is the recording of my conversation with Beck from last week where we discussed the work being completed on the chat w/ docs plugin in the above replies followed by an AI powered summary of what was discussed.

In short we are getting close to having a developers release for fully functioning chat w/ docs plugin which is exciting.

Questions, comments, concerns and ideas welcome as always. Just hit the reply button.

Thanks!
Dave

Recording:

AI Powered Summary of discussion:

TL;DR

We split Chat with Documents into two Dockerized backends and got it running fully local-first on Mac:

  1. Chat Backend (stores chunks/embeddings, answers questions)
  2. Document Processing Backend (spaCy-Layout for high-quality text + structure extraction & chunking)

This boosts accuracy, speeds daily use, and lets users host the heavy processor separately if they want.

What Changed

  • Two services instead of one: faster startup for everyday chatting; only spin up processing when ingesting files.
  • Local by default: Everything runs on your machine via Docker; you can point the processor to a remote URL later.
  • High-quality extraction: spaCy-Layout preserves headers, lists, tablesā€”better chunks ā‡’ better RAG with small local LLMs.

Current Status (Works)

  • Clean install on Mac succeeds; both containers run.
  • Uploaded a multi-page doc; chunking/embeddings completed; chat retrieved correct context using a tiny (0.38B) model.
  • Minor UI quirk: occasional ā€œpolling timeoutā€ during ingestion, but processing continuesā€”refresh shows progress/results.

Setup Notes (Quick)

  • After installing the plugin, update plugin settings:

    • LLM / Embedding / Contextual base URLs
    • Use host.docker.internal (not localhost) when the backend must reach a Docker service.

  • First-time build of the Document Processing image is large (ML models); expect a longer initial pull/build.

Next Up

  1. Install/Service status UI (show build/start progress; block usage until ready).
  2. Integrate with BrainDrive LLM (pick models from the standard dropdown).
  3. Integrate with BrainDrive chat history (native conversation persistence).

Why It Matters

  • Accuracy-first RAG with structured extraction lets even small local models perform well.
  • Flexibility: swap the extractor (spaCy-Layout or lighter alternatives) or host it remotely without changing the chat backend.

Coming Attraction: MCP

After the above, weā€™ll add MCP support so BrainDrive pages can connect to external tools/services (action tools like image gen, and context sources like calendar/email/Drive) through a single standard.

Call for Feedback

Please test:

  • Ingestion speed & reliability
  • Chunk quality and retrieval accuracy
  • Any UI friction (especially first-run build and timeouts)

Post findings and logs/screens in the threadā€”this will help us harden the beta.

77

Hi @beck I still need to set the environment variables in order to use this by clicking the settings icon on after adding the plugin to a page correct?

When I try to click the settings icon nothing happens for me.

Thanks
Dave W.

78

Hi @davewaring ,

by clicking on ā€œgear iconā€ it should open plugin settings page.

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Do you see error or something?

79

to resolve this, could you:

  1. review docker desktop app and make sure containers are running. You should 2 containers running (chatwithyourdocuments_cwyd_service and chatwithyourdocuments_document_processing_service)
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  2. If the containers are missing or only one is running:
  • This means the initial setup didnā€™t finish properly.
  • Delete the page you created
  • Completely remove the document chat plugin (including the files on your computer).
  • Stop the backend server. (from terminal CTRL + C or Command + C)
  • Restart the backend using this specific command:
    uvicorn main:app --host localhost --port 8005
    (Please note that we are running backend without the ā€œreloadā€ flag now.)
  • Try installing the document chat plugin again: https://github.com/bekmuradov/document-chat-plugin-dev
  1. I also added health check status to chat with document plugin which will show if backend is ready.
80

Thanks. I followed the steps but it looks like the document processing service is not starting up and when I click the play button nothing happens.

Screenshot 2025-10-06 at 12.32.00 PM
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