📚 ResearchAI Chatbot

A modular Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) chatbot built with:

• Streamlit (UI)
• LangChain
• Azure AI Search
• Azure OpenAI (GPT)
• Python

This application enables users to ask research-related questions and receive AI-generated answers grounded strictly on documents indexed in Azure AI Search.

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🚀 Features

• 🔍 Semantic search using Azure AI Search
• 🤖 Answer generation using Azure OpenAI GPT models
• 🧠 Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
• 💬 Chat-style UI with conversation history
• 📁 Clean modular architecture for easy maintenance
• 🔐 Secure credential management using .env
• ⚡ Fast, scalable, enterprise-ready design

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🧩 Architecture Overview

The system follows a classic RAG architecture:

User Query → Streamlit UI → Orchestrator (LangChain)
    → Azure AI Search (Retrieve Context)
    → Azure OpenAI (Generate Answer using Context)
    → Streamlit UI (Final Response)

All components are separated into modules to ensure clean separation of concerns.

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📁 Project Structure

researchai/
├── app.py
├── .env
├── requirements.txt
├── README.md
└── src/
   ├── __init__.py
   ├── config.py
   ├── llm.py
   ├── retriever.py
   ├── prompts.py
   ├── chain.py
   └── ui.py

Module Responsibilities

File	Purpose
app.py	Main Streamlit entry point
config.py	Environment variable loading and validation
retriever.py	Azure AI Search retriever setup
llm.py	Azure OpenAI client configuration
prompts.py	Chat prompt templates
chain.py	RAG chain orchestration
ui.py	Streamlit user interface logic

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⚙️ Prerequisites

You must have:

• Python 3.10+
• Azure AI Search service
• Azure OpenAI service
• An indexed knowledge base in Azure AI Search

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📦 Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd researchai

2. Create a virtual environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate     # Linux/Mac
venv\Scripts\activate        # Windows

3. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

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🔐 Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root with the following:

AZURE_AI_SEARCH_SERVICE_NAME=your-search-service
AZURE_AI_SEARCH_INDEX_NAME=your-index-name
AZURE_AI_SEARCH_API_KEY=your-search-key

AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT=https://your-resource.openai.azure.com
AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-key
AZURE_OPENAI_API_VERSION=2024-02-15-preview
AZURE_OPENAI_MODEL=your-deployment-name

⚠️ All values must be provided before running the app.

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▶️ Running the Application

Start the chatbot with:

streamlit run app.py

Then open in browser:

http://localhost:8501

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🛠 Technologies Used

Technology	Role
Python	Core language
Streamlit	Frontend UI
LangChain	RAG orchestration
Azure AI Search	Document retrieval
Azure OpenAI GPT	Answer generation
dotenv	Credential management