Build RAG Chatbot with LangChain, Zilliz Cloud, Google Vertex AI Claude 3 Haiku, and Google Vertex AI textembedding-gecko@003

Introduction to RAG

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is a game-changer for GenAI applications, especially in conversational AI. It combines the power of pre-trained large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT with external knowledge sources stored in vector databases such as Milvus and Zilliz Cloud, allowing for more accurate, contextually relevant, and up-to-date response generation. A RAG pipeline usually consists of four basic components: a vector database, an embedding model, an LLM, and a framework.

Key Components We'll Use for This RAG Chatbot

This tutorial shows you how to build a simple RAG chatbot in Python using the following components:

LangChain: An open-source framework that helps you orchestrate the interaction between LLMs, vector stores, embedding models, etc, making it easier to integrate a RAG pipeline.
Zilliz Cloud: a fully managed vector database-as-a-service platform built on top of the open-source Milvus, designed to handle high-performance vector data processing at scale. It enables organizations to efficiently store, search, and analyze large volumes of unstructured data, such as text, images, or audio, by leveraging advanced vector search technology. It offers a free tier supporting up to 1 million vectors.
Google Vertex AI Claude 3 Haiku: A versatile model within Google’s Vertex AI ecosystem, it is designed for seamless integration and enhanced generative capabilities. It excels in natural language processing tasks, such as text generation, summarization, and conversational AI. Ideal for businesses seeking to leverage AI for robust, scalable applications in various domains.
Google Vertex AI textembedding-gecko@003: This model specializes in generating high-quality text embeddings for diverse applications, including semantic search and content recommendation. It leverages advanced techniques for contextual understanding, ensuring accurate representations of intricate text. Ideal for integration into systems needing scalable and efficient NLP solutions, enhancing user experience in real-time applications.

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have a functional chatbot capable of answering questions based on a custom knowledge base.

Note: Since we may use proprietary models in our tutorials, make sure you have the required API key beforehand.

Step 1: Install and Set Up LangChain

%pip install --quiet --upgrade langchain-text-splitters langchain-community langgraph

Step 2: Install and Set Up Google Vertex AI Claude 3 Haiku

pip install -qU "langchain[google-vertexai]"

# Ensure your VertexAI credentials are configured

from langchain.chat_models import init_chat_model

llm = init_chat_model("claude-3-haiku@20240307", model_provider="google_vertexai")

Step 3: Install and Set Up Google Vertex AI textembedding-gecko@003

pip install -qU langchain-google-vertexai

from langchain_google_vertexai import VertexAIEmbeddings

embeddings = VertexAIEmbeddings(model="textembedding-gecko@003")

Step 4: Install and Set Up Zilliz Cloud

pip install -qU langchain-milvus

from langchain_milvus import Zilliz

vector_store = Zilliz(
    embedding_function=embeddings,
    connection_args={
        "uri": ZILLIZ_CLOUD_URI,
        "token": ZILLIZ_CLOUD_TOKEN,
    },
)

Step 5: Build a RAG Chatbot

Now that you’ve set up all components, let’s start to build a simple chatbot. We’ll use the Milvus introduction doc as a private knowledge base. You can replace it with your own dataset to customize your RAG chatbot.

import bs4
from langchain import hub
from langchain_community.document_loaders import WebBaseLoader
from langchain_core.documents import Document
from langchain_text_splitters import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter
from langgraph.graph import START, StateGraph
from typing_extensions import List, TypedDict

# Load and chunk contents of the blog
loader = WebBaseLoader(
    web_paths=("https://milvus.io/docs/overview.md",),
    bs_kwargs=dict(
        parse_only=bs4.SoupStrainer(
            class_=("doc-style doc-post-content")
        )
    ),
)

docs = loader.load()

text_splitter = RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter(chunk_size=1000, chunk_overlap=200)
all_splits = text_splitter.split_documents(docs)

# Index chunks
_ = vector_store.add_documents(documents=all_splits)

# Define prompt for question-answering
prompt = hub.pull("rlm/rag-prompt")


# Define state for application
class State(TypedDict):
    question: str
    context: List[Document]
    answer: str


# Define application steps
def retrieve(state: State):
    retrieved_docs = vector_store.similarity_search(state["question"])
    return {"context": retrieved_docs}


def generate(state: State):
    docs_content = "\n\n".join(doc.page_content for doc in state["context"])
    messages = prompt.invoke({"question": state["question"], "context": docs_content})
    response = llm.invoke(messages)
    return {"answer": response.content}


# Compile application and test
graph_builder = StateGraph(State).add_sequence([retrieve, generate])
graph_builder.add_edge(START, "retrieve")
graph = graph_builder.compile()

Test the Chatbot

Yeah! You've built your own chatbot. Let's ask the chatbot a question.

response = graph.invoke({"question": "What data types does Milvus support?"})
print(response["answer"])

Example Output

Milvus supports various data types including sparse vectors, binary vectors, JSON, and arrays. Additionally, it handles common numerical and character types, making it versatile for different data modeling needs. This allows users to manage unstructured or multi-modal data efficiently.

Optimization Tips

As you build your RAG system, optimization is key to ensuring peak performance and efficiency. While setting up the components is an essential first step, fine-tuning each one will help you create a solution that works even better and scales seamlessly. In this section, we’ll share some practical tips for optimizing all these components, giving you the edge to build smarter, faster, and more responsive RAG applications.

LangChain optimization tips

To optimize LangChain, focus on minimizing redundant operations in your workflow by structuring your chains and agents efficiently. Use caching to avoid repeated computations, speeding up your system, and experiment with modular design to ensure that components like models or databases can be easily swapped out. This will provide both flexibility and efficiency, allowing you to quickly scale your system without unnecessary delays or complications.

Zilliz Cloud optimization tips

Optimizing Zilliz Cloud for a RAG system involves efficient index selection, query tuning, and resource management. Use Hierarchical Navigable Small World (HNSW) indexing for high-speed, approximate nearest neighbor search while balancing recall and efficiency. Fine-tune ef_construction and M parameters based on your dataset size and query workload to optimize search accuracy and latency. Enable dynamic scaling to handle fluctuating workloads efficiently, ensuring smooth performance under varying query loads. Implement data partitioning to improve retrieval speed by grouping related data, reducing unnecessary comparisons. Regularly update and optimize embeddings to keep results relevant, particularly when dealing with evolving datasets. Use hybrid search techniques, such as combining vector and keyword search, to improve response quality. Monitor system metrics in Zilliz Cloud’s dashboard and adjust configurations accordingly to maintain low-latency, high-throughput performance.

Google Vertex AI Claude 3 Haiku optimization tips

Claude 3 Haiku on Google Vertex AI is designed for low-latency RAG applications requiring fast retrieval and generation. Optimize retrieval by using efficient vector search techniques to minimize irrelevant data in the context. Keep prompts short and structured to maximize clarity while reducing token usage. Set temperature between 0.1 and 0.3 for fact-based queries to maintain accuracy. Use Google Cloud’s auto-scaling and caching features to handle peak loads effectively. If deploying in a multi-model setup, reserve Haiku for fast, high-volume tasks while offloading complex reasoning to larger models. Implement response streaming for real-time applications to reduce latency and improve interactivity.

Google Vertex AI textembedding-gecko@003 optimization tips

Google Vertex AI textembedding-gecko@003 is designed for advanced text understanding, making it ideal for high-accuracy RAG applications. Optimize embedding generation by removing noisy data and focusing on the most relevant content within documents. Use efficient vector search algorithms, such as FAISS with IVF or HNSW, to ensure fast and accurate document retrieval. Batch text embeddings for large volumes of data to speed up processing and minimize latency. Implement caching for high-frequency queries and periodically refresh embeddings to keep up with changes in the data landscape. Fine-tune the model on domain-specific tasks to improve relevance in specialized RAG applications. Consider deploying a multi-stage search strategy with semantic and keyword-based approaches for optimal accuracy and performance.

By implementing these tips across your components, you'll be able to enhance the performance and functionality of your RAG system, ensuring it’s optimized for both speed and accuracy. Keep testing, iterating, and refining your setup to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of AI development.

RAG Cost Calculator: A Free Tool to Calculate Your Cost in Seconds

Estimating the cost of a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline involves analyzing expenses across vector storage, compute resources, and API usage. Key cost drivers include vector database queries, embedding generation, and LLM inference.

RAG Cost Calculator is a free tool that quickly estimates the cost of building a RAG pipeline, including chunking, embedding, vector storage/search, and LLM generation. It also helps you identify cost-saving opportunities and achieve up to 10x cost reduction on vector databases with the serverless option.

Calculate your RAG cost now.

Calculate your RAG cost

What Have You Learned?

What have you learned? Wow, what an incredible journey we’ve had together! We started off by exploring how the LangChain framework seamlessly ties together all the components of our cutting-edge RAG system. We’ve seen how this framework helps manage workflows, orchestrating the interaction between our powerful vector database, the LLM, and the embedding model. Speaking of our vector database, like Zilliz Cloud, it’s simply remarkable! It allows for rapid search capabilities, ensuring you can fetch relevant information with lightning speed. That’s a game changer when you need quick access to insights!

Then we dove into the world of the LLM, specifically Google Vertex AI Claude 3 Haiku, which breathed conversational intelligence into our applications. It offers nuanced understanding and interactive capabilities that can really elevate user engagement. And let’s not forget about the embedding model, like Google Vertex AI textembedding-gecko@003, generating those rich semantic representations that fine-tune our results and enhance context in our conversations.

With optimization tips sprinkled throughout and a handy free cost calculator at your disposal, you're equipped to take this knowledge even further. So, what’s stopping you? Dive in, start building, optimizing, and innovating your RAG applications today. The possibilities are endless, and I can’t wait to see the incredible things you create! Go for it!

Further Resources

🌟 In addition to this RAG tutorial, unleash your full potential with these incredible resources to level up your RAG skills.

How to Build a Multimodal RAG | Documentation
How to Enhance the Performance of Your RAG Pipeline
Graph RAG with Milvus | Documentation
How to Evaluate RAG Applications - Zilliz Learn
Generative AI Resource Hub | Zilliz

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