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Frequently asked questions

Why should I use Ragna and not X?

TL;DR

Ragna is the only tool out there that specializes in orchestrating RAG use cases with arbitrary components, as well as offering a Python API, a REST API, and a web UI for that.

Note

Although we try to be objective as possible, this section is inheritly biased. If you are the author of a package we don't mention below but think we should or your package is mentiond but you feel we have mischaracterized it, please get in touch.

After the emergence of ChatGPT in November of 2022, the field of LLMs exploded. Today, there are many providers for LLM REST APIs out there. With these, we also have a plethora of Python packages to build applications around the provided APIs. We cannot summarize the whole field here, so we stick to large projects in the Python ecosystem for comparison.

library or application RAG arbitrary components Python API REST API web UI
Ragna ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
LangChain ✔ ✔ ✔ ❌ ❌
Langroid ✔ ✔ ✔ ❌ ❌
LlamaIndex ✔ ✔ ✔ ❌ ❌
Ollama ❌ ❌ ✔ ✔ ❌
vLLM ❌ ❌ ✔ ✔ ❌
PrivateGPT ✔ ❌ ❌ ✔ ✔
LocalGPT ✔ ❌ ❌ ✔ ✔

Where do I get API keys for the builtin assistants?

OpenAI

  1. Get an OpenAI API key following these instructions:

    First, create an OpenAI account or sign in. Next, navigate to the API key page and "Create new secret key", optionally naming the key. Make sure to save this somewhere safe and do not share it with anyone.

    ~ OpenAI platform documentation

  2. Set the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable with your OpenAI API key: 
    export OPENAI_API_KEY="XXXXX"

Anthropic

  1. Anthropic currently only provides API keys to business customers:

    Our API is currently being offered to a limited set of users. We hope to expand access in the future. Please fill out the form below to indicate your interest

    ~ Claude API Access

  2. Set the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable with your Anthropic API key: 
    export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="XXXXX"

Google

  1. To use the API, you need an API key. You can create a key with one click in Google AI Studio.

    ~ Google AI API

  2. Set the GOOGLE_API_KEY environment variable with your Google API key: 
    export GOOGLE_API_KEY="XXXXX"

Cohere

  1. To use the API, you need an API key. You can create a key in the Cohere dashboard using your Cohere account.

    ~ Cohere Dashboard

  2. Set the COHERE_API_KEY environment variable with your Cohere API key: 
    export COHERE_API_KEY="XXXXX"

AI21 Labs

  1. To use the API, you need an API key. You can create one in AI21 Studio

    Create your account on AI21 Studio and start building with Jurassic-2. We offer flexible pay-as-you-go plans as well as a free trial with a generous amount of free credits to get you started.

    ~ AI21 Labs API key creation page

  2. Set the AI21_API_KEY environment variable with your AI21 Labs API key: 
    export AI21_API_KEY="XXXXX"