## Overview
Khoj can now go into research mode and use a python code interpreter. These are experimental features that are being released early for feedback and testing.
- Research mode allows Khoj to dynamically select the tools it needs to best answer the question. It is also allowed more iterations to get to a satisfactory answer. Its more dynamic train of thought is shown to improve visibility into its thinking.
- Adding ability for Khoj to use a python code interpreter is an adjacent capability. It can help Khoj do some data analysis and generate charts for you. A sandboxed python to run code is provided using [cohere-terrarium](https://github.com/cohere-ai/cohere-terrarium?tab=readme-ov-file), [pyodide](https://pyodide.org/).
## Analysis
Research mode (significantly?) improves Khoj's information retrieval for more complex queries requiring multi-step lookups but takes longer to run. It can research for longer, requiring less back-n-forth with the user to find an answer.
Research mode gives most gains when used with more advanced chat models (like o1, 4o, new claude sonnet and gemini-pro-002). Smaller models improve their response quality but tend to get into repetitive loops more often.
## Next Steps
- Get community feedback on research mode. What works, what fails, what is confusing, what'd be cool to have.
- Tune Khoj's capabilities for longer autonomous runs and to generalize across a larger range of model sizes
## Miscellaneous Improvements
- Khoj's train of thought is saved and shown for all messages, not just the latest one
- Render charts generated by Khoj and code running using the code tool on the web app
- Align chat input color to currently selected agent color
- Dedent code for readability
- Use better name for in research mode check
- Continue to remove inferred summarize command when multiple files in
file filter even when not in research mode
- Continue to show select information source train of thought.
It was removed by mistake earlier
## Overview
Use git to capture prompt traces of khoj's train of thought. View, analyze and debug them using your favorite git client (e.g vscode, magit).
- Each commit captures an interaction with an LLM
The commit writes the query, response and system message each to a separate file in the repo.
The commit message captures the chat model, Khoj version and other metadata
- Each conversation turn can have multiple interactions with an LLM (e.g Khoj's train of thought)
- Each new conversation turn forks from and merges back into its conversation branch
- Each new conversation branches from the user branch
- Each new user branches from root commit on the main branch
## Usage
1. Set `KHOJ_DEBUG=true` or start khoj in very verbose mode with `khoj -vv` to turn on prompt tracing
2. Chat with Khoj as usual
3. Open the promptrace git repo to view the generated prompt traces using your favorite git porcelain.
The Khoj prompt trace git repo is created at `/tmp/khoj_promptrace` by default. You can configure the prompt trace directory by setting the `PROMPTRACE_DIR`environment variable.
## Implementation
- Add utility functions to capture prompt traces using git (via `gitpython`)
- Make each model provider in Khoj commit their LLM interactions with promptrace
- Weave chat metadata from chat API through all chat actors and commit it to the prompt trace
- Match the online query generator prompt to match the formatting of
extract questions
- Separate iteration results by newline
- Improve webpage and online tool descriptions
- Allow server to start if loading embedding model fails with an error.
This allows fixing the embedding model config via admin panel.
Previously server failed to start if embedding model was configured
incorrectly. This prevented fixing the model config via admin panel.
- Convert boolean string in config json to actual booleans when passed
via admin panel as json before passing to model, query configs
- Only create default model if no search model configured by admin.
Return first created search model if its been configured by admin.
Models were getting a bit confused about who is search for who's
information. Using third person to explicitly call out on who's behalf
these searches are running seems to perform better across
models (gemini's, gpt etc.), even if the role of the message is user.
Use placeholder for newline in json object values until json parsed
and values extracted. This is useful when research mode models outputs
multi-line codeblocks in queries etc.
Anthropic API doesn't have ability to enforce response with valid json
object, unlike all the other model types.
While the model will usually adhere to json output instructions.
This step is meant to more strongly encourage it to just output json
object when response_type of json_object is requested.
Separate conversation history with user from the conversation history
between the tool AIs and the researcher AI.
Tools AIs don't need top level conversation history, that context is
meant for the researcher AI.
The invoked tool AIs need previous attempts at using the tool in this
research runs iteration history to better tune their next run.
Or at least that is the hypothesis to break the models looping.
