Code Hint API

The Code Hint API is a FastAPI-based application that does the following:

• validates user requests for code hints before sending them to OpenAI API by ensuring only valid code is sent
• validates OpenAI API responses based on avoiding internal contradicitons and content warnings.
• records all validated requests and responses for research purposes

Known issues:

• is_this_python function gives no false negatives but it is still not reliable in passing Python code with errors as Python
• All validation should ideally happen in models.py but testing is mocked and I dont have enough data on actual validator performance.
• Once validation is sorted endpoints should be refactored for better error handling and neater API response parsing.

Deployment

To deploy the Code Hint API, follow these steps:

1. Get a server: Set up a server or hosting environment to deploy the application. This can be a cloud-based server, a virtual private server (VPS), or a local machine.

2. Clone the repository: Clone the project repository to your server using the following command:

   git clone <repository_url>
   

3. Create a virtual environment: Navigate to the project directory and create a virtual environment to isolate the project dependencies. Run the following commands:

   cd code_hint
   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate
   

4. Install dependencies: Install the project dependencies by running the following command:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

5. Set up the OpenAI API key: Obtain an API key from OpenAI. Create a .env file in the project root directory and add the following line:

   OPENAI_API_KEY=<your_api_key>
   

   Replace <your_api_key> with your actual OpenAI API key.

6. Test the application: Before running the application, you can test it by running the run_headless.py script. This script allows you to select a code snippet and analyze it using the API. Run the following command:

   python run_headless.py
   

   Follow the prompts to select a code snippet and view the analysis results.

7. Run the application: To start the API server, run the following command:

   uvicorn api:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
   

   This will start the server and make it accessible at http://localhost:8000.

API Endpoints

The Code Hint API provides the following endpoints:

• GET /: Returns a simple "Hello World" message to confirm that the API is running.
• POST /get_code_hints: Accepts a JSON payload containing a code snippet and returns the analysis results, including hints, error information, and content warnings.

Project Structure

The project has the following structure:

• api.py: The main FastAPI application file that defines the API endpoints and handles the requests.
• models.py: Defines the SQLModel models for the CodeSnippet and CodeHint tables in the database.
• database.py: Contains the database configuration and utility functions for creating tables and saving data.
• utils.py: Provides utility functions for code analysis, such as checking if the code is valid Python.
• run_headless.py: A script for testing the API by submitting code snippets and displaying the analysis results.

Dependencies

The Code Hint API relies on the following dependencies:

• FastAPI: A modern, fast (high-performance) Python web framework for building APIs.
• SQLModel: A library for defining SQL databases and models using Python classes.
• OpenAI API: An AI platform that provides language models for code analysis and generating hints.

Make sure to install the required dependencies listed in the requirements.txt file.

Contributing

If you would like to contribute to the Code Hint API project, please follow the standard GitHub workflow:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch for your feature or bug fix.
3. Make your changes and commit them with descriptive messages.
4. Push your changes to your forked repository.
5. Submit a pull request to the main repository.

We appreciate your contributions and feedback!

License

The Code Hint API is open-source and released under the MIT License.