Verge

A full-stack news chatbot that leverages Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to provide intelligent responses about news content. Users can engage in natural conversations about current events, with each session maintaining context and conversation history.

Architecture

Verge consists of three main components:

• News Engine (verge-news-engine-repository): Handles crawling, preprocessing, and embedding news articles into Pinecone’s vector database.
• Frontend: React-based chat interface with session management
• Backend: Node.js API with vector search and AI integration

Frontend (React + Vite) ←→ Backend (Node.js + Express)
                                      ↓
                            Vector Search (Pinecone)
                                      ↓
                              AI Chat (Google Gemini)
                                      ↓
                          Database (PostgreSQL + Redis)

Core Features

• Intelligent Chat: Context-aware conversations about news topics
• Session Management: Persistent chat sessions with conversation memory
• Semantic Search: Vector-based news content retrieval
• Real-time Interface: Responsive chat UI with typing indicators
• Session History: Browse and resume previous conversations

Technology Stack

Frontend

• React 19 with TypeScript
• Vite for build tooling
• Tailwind CSS for styling
• Radix UI components
• Axios for API communication

Backend

• Node.js 18+ with TypeScript
• Express.js framework
• PostgreSQL (Neon) with Drizzle ORM
• Redis for session caching
• Pinecone for vector search
• Google Gemini for AI responses

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18.0.0 or higher
• PostgreSQL database (Neon recommended)
• Google Gemini API key
• Pinecone account

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/MuhammedBasith/verge.git
   cd verge

2. Backend Setup

   cd backend
   npm install
   cp .env.example .env
   # Configure your environment variables
   npm run db:migrate
   npm run dev

3. Frontend Setup

   cd frontend
   npm install
   cp .env.example .env
   # Configure API endpoint
   npm run dev

The application will be available at:

• Frontend: http://localhost:5173
• Backend API: http://localhost:3000

Project Structure

verge/
├── frontend/          # React application
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/    # UI components
│   │   ├── hooks/         # Custom React hooks
│   │   ├── utils/         # Utility functions
│   │   └── lib/           # Shared libraries
│   └── README.md      # Frontend documentation
├── backend/           # Node.js API
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── controllers/   # Request handlers
│   │   ├── services/      # Business logic
│   │   ├── models/        # Database schemas
│   │   ├── routes/        # API routes
│   │   └── config/        # Configuration
│   ├── README.md      # Backend documentation
│   └── SETUP_GUIDE.md # Detailed setup instructions
└── README.md          # This file

API Overview

Core Endpoints

• POST /api/sessions - Create new chat session
• POST /api/chat - Send message and get AI response
• GET /api/chat/history/:sessionId - Retrieve conversation history
• GET /api/sessions - List user sessions
• GET /api/health - System health check

Configuration

Environment Variables

Both frontend and backend require environment configuration:

• Backend: Database credentials, API keys, Redis configuration
• Frontend: API endpoint configuration

See individual README files in each directory for detailed configuration options.

Development

Running in Development Mode

# Terminal 1 - Backend
cd backend && npm run dev

# Terminal 2 - Frontend  
cd frontend && npm run dev

Code Quality

# Backend
cd backend
npm run lint
npm run format

# Frontend
cd frontend
npm run lint

Documentation

• Frontend Documentation - React app setup and architecture
• Backend Documentation - API architecture and services
• Setup Guide - Detailed installation instructions
• API Documentation - Complete API reference

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests and linting
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.