DocChat: Local AI Document Chat Platform

DocChat is a full-stack application that enables users to upload documents (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Markdown, Text) and chat with them using local AI. It leverages local LLMs for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), featuring persistent chat sessions, advanced token tracking, and seamless integration between a Next.js frontend and a FastAPI backend.

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Table of Contents

• Features
• Architecture Overview
• Backend
  • API Endpoints
  • Supabase Schema
  • Configuration
  • Setup & Running
• Frontend
  • Key Components
  • State Management
  • Setup & Running
• Development Workflow

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Features

• Multi-Format Document Support: Process PDF, DOCX, PPTX, TXT, and MD files.
• Local AI Processing: Uses Ollama for local LLM and embedding generation (e.g., Llama 3.2, Nomic Embed).
• VLM Integration: Visual Language Model support for extracting and summarizing images from documents.
• Vector Search: High-performance retrieval using Qdrant vector database.
• Persistent Conversations: Full chat history and document metadata stored in Supabase.
• Advanced Token Analytics: Detailed breakdown of prompt, completion, and reasoning tokens.
• Reasoning Model Support: Automatically detects and calculates reasoning tokens from models like DeepSeek R1.
• Dynamic Model Selection: Switch between different LLMs and VLMs directly from the UI.
• Modern UI/UX: Responsive Next.js interface with Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion, and shadcn/ui components.

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Architecture Overview

graph TD
User([User]) <--> Frontend[Next.js Frontend]
Frontend <--> Backend[FastAPI Backend]
Backend <--> Supabase[(Supabase - Metadata/Chat)]
Backend <--> Qdrant[(Qdrant - Vector DB)]
Backend <--> Ollama[Ollama - Local AI Models]

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• Frontend: Next.js 16, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS v4, Zustand (state management).
• Backend: FastAPI (Python), Document parsing (PyMuPDF, python-docx, etc.), RAG logic.
• Storage: Supabase (PostgreSQL) for structured data; Qdrant for vector embeddings.
• AI Engine: Ollama (compatible with OpenAI-like API).

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Backend

API Endpoints

• POST /upload — Upload and process a document (links to chat_id).
• POST /chat — Send a query with document context and receive an AI response.
• POST /session/chat-session — Create a new chat session.
• GET /session/list — List all chat sessions for a user.
• GET /session/{chat_id}/conversations — Get processed files for a specific chat.
• GET /session/{chat_id}/messages — Retrieve message history for a chat.
• DELETE /session/{chat_id} — Wipe a session and its associated vectors/files.
• GET /models — List available and configured models.
• GET /models/health — Check status of Ollama and Qdrant services.

Supabase Schema

The application requires three main tables:

• chats: Stores session metadata (chat_id, user_id, title).
• chat_documents: Links files to sessions (conversation_id, file_name, file_type).
• chat_messages: Stores the Q&A history, including detailed token analytics (prompt_tokens, completion_tokens, total_tokens, reasoning_tokens, context_tokens, history_tokens, query_tokens) and the model_used.

Configuration

Managed via backend/config.yaml: (This file defines the **default** models and hosts, which can be overridden via the UI's model selector.)

llm:
model_name: llama3.2:latesthost: http://localhost:11434vlm:
model_name: qwen2.5vl:3bhost: http://localhost:11434embedding:
model_name: nomic-embed-text

Infrastructure settings like Supabase and Qdrant credentials are managed via the .env file in the backend directory.

Backend Setup & Running

1. Install Dependencies:

   cd backend
   pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Environment Setup: Create a .env file with:
   • SUPABASE_URL, SUPABASE_KEY
   • QDRANT_HOST, QDRANT_PORT (default: localhost:6333)
3. Run Server:

   uvicorn app.main:app --reload

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Frontend

Key Components

• app-sidebar.tsx: Navigation and chat history.
• chatArea.tsx: Interactive chat interface with message bubbles.
• ModelSelector.tsx: Dropdown for switching models with health status.
• uploadSidebar.tsx: Drag-and-drop file upload with progress tracking.

State Management

Uses Zustand and React Context to manage:

• Active chatId and document selection.
• Real-time message updates.
• App-wide loading states and notifications.

Frontend Setup & Running

1. Install Dependencies:

   cd frontend
   pnpm install

2. Environment Setup: Create a .env file with:
   • NEXT_PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:8000
   • NEXT_PUBLIC_USER_ID=your_id
3. Run App:

   pnpm dev

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Development Workflow

1. Ollama: Ensure Ollama is running (ollama serve).
2. Qdrant: Run via Docker: docker run -p 6333:6333 qdrant/qdrant.
3. Supabase: Ensure your project tables are set up as per the schema.
4. Backend: Start the FastAPI server.
5. Frontend: Start the Next.js dev server.