UBC GenAI Toolkit (TypeScript)

The UBC GenAI Toolkit (TypeScript) is a modular library designed to simplify the integration of Generative AI capabilities into web applications at UBC. It provides standardized interfaces for common GenAI tasks, shielding applications from underlying implementations and ensuring API stability even as technologies evolve.

This toolkit follows the Facade pattern, offering simplified interfaces over potentially complex underlying libraries or services. This allows developers of applications that consume this toolkit to focus on application logic rather than GenAI infrastructure, and enables easier adoption of new technologies or providers in the future without requiring changes to consuming applications.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Core Concepts
• Modules
  • Core Module
  • LLM Module
  • Embeddings Module
  • Chunking Module
  • Document Parsing Module
  • RAG Module
• Example Applications
• Future Modules
• Contributing
• License

Installation

Note: This toolkit is currently under active development and is not yet published on npm. The following instructions are temporary.

Our goal is to publish this toolkit to npm as @ubc-genai-toolkit/PACKAGE_NAME (e.g., @ubc-genai-toolkit/llm) in the future.

For now, to use the toolkit in your project:

1. Clone this repository to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/ubc/ubc-genai-toolkit-ts.git

2. In your project's package.json, add the desired toolkit modules as dependencies using relative file: paths pointing to the corresponding directories within your cloned toolkit repository:

   {
   	"dependencies": {
   		"@ubc-genai-toolkit/core": "file:/path/to/your/cloned/ubc-genai-toolkit-ts/modules/core",
   		"@ubc-genai-toolkit/llm": "file:/path/to/your/cloned/ubc-genai-toolkit-ts/modules/llm",
   		"@ubc-genai-toolkit/embeddings": "file:/path/to/your/cloned/ubc-genai-toolkit-ts/modules/embeddings"
   		// Add other modules as needed
   	}
   }

   Replace /path/to/your/cloned/ with the actual path on your system.
3. Run npm install (or yarn install, pnpm install) in your project directory.

Core Concepts

The toolkit is built upon several core design principles:

• Modular Design: Capabilities are encapsulated in distinct modules (core, llm, embeddings, etc.).
• Stable API: Public interfaces aim for stability, abstracting underlying changes.
• Implementation Agnostic: Core APIs are defined independently of specific technologies.
• Configurable: Modules accept configuration options at initialization.
• Multi-instance: Supports multiple simultaneous instances of modules.
• Observable: Follows consistent patterns for logging and error handling.
• Well-documented: Aims for comprehensive documentation and examples.

Refer to the modules/core/src directory for common patterns like error handling (error.ts), configuration (config.ts), and logging (logger.ts).

Modules

The toolkit consists of several modules, each providing specific functionality:

Core Module (@ubc-genai-toolkit/core)

Location: modules/core

This module provides foundational interfaces and utilities used by other modules, including standardized error handling, configuration management, and logging interfaces. It establishes the common patterns that other modules adhere to.

LLM Module (@ubc-genai-toolkit/llm)

Location: modules/llm

Provides a consistent interface for interacting with various Large Language Models (LLMs). It simplifies managing conversations and handling responses.

• Providers:
  • Anthropic (via @anthropic-ai/sdk)
  • OpenAI (via openai)
  • Ollama (via ollama)
  • UBC LLM Sandbox (via a custom Ollama/LiteLLM proxy)
• Example App: example-apps/llm-conversation demonstrates basic conversational interaction.

Embeddings Module (@ubc-genai-toolkit/embeddings)

Location: modules/embeddings

Handles the creation of text embeddings using different models. Embeddings are crucial for tasks like semantic search and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

• Underlying Library: fastembed
• Example App: example-apps/embedding-cli shows how to generate embeddings for text.

Chunking Module (@ubc-genai-toolkit/chunking)

Location: modules/chunking

Provides strategies for splitting large texts into smaller, manageable chunks, often a necessary preprocessing step for embedding or LLM processing.

• Underlying Library: langchain (specifically its text splitters)
• Example App: example-apps/chunking-cli demonstrates text chunking strategies.

Document Parsing Module (@ubc-genai-toolkit/document-parsing)

Location: modules/document-parsing

Extracts text content from various document formats.

• Supported Formats/Libraries:
  • PDF (via @opendocsg/pdf2md)
  • DOCX (via mammoth)
  • HTML (via turndown)
  • Markdown/Text (via markdown-to-text, file-type)
• Example App: example-apps/document-parsing-cli shows how to parse different file types.

RAG Module (@ubc-genai-toolkit/rag)

Location: modules/rag

Facilitates building Retrieval-Augmented Generation systems. It integrates embedding generation and vector storage/retrieval to provide relevant context to LLMs.

• Vector Store Interaction: Currently supports Qdrant (via @qdrant/js-client-rest).
• Dependencies: Relies on the Embeddings Module.
• Example App: example-apps/rag-app demonstrates a basic RAG implementation.

Example Applications

The example-apps/ directory contains simple applications demonstrating how to use each non-core module:

• llm-conversation: Basic chat interface using the LLM module.
• embedding-cli: Command-line tool for generating text embeddings.
• chunking-cli: Command-line tool for splitting text documents.
• document-parsing-cli: Command-line tool for extracting text from files.
• rag-app: Simple application showcasing RAG principles.

These examples serve as starting points for integrating the toolkit into your own applications.

Future Modules

We are actively working on expanding the toolkit with additional modules relevant to the UBC context, including:

• Authentication Module: Integration with UBC's Shibboleth/SAML2 infrastructure.
• LTI Module: Support for Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) to connect with Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Canvas.

Contributing

Contribution guidelines will be added soon. In the meantime, feel free to open issues or pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0. See the LICENSE file for details.