dc-artisan - Prompt & RAG Pipeline Toolkit for Developers

dc-artisan is a powerful VSCode extension integrated with an InterSystems IRIS backend. It provides developers with a suite of tools for prompt enhancement and building robust Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, streamlining the development of AI-powered applications.

This repository contains the source code for both the VSCode extension and the InterSystems IRIS backend.

🚀 Motivation

In the rapidly evolving landscape of Large Language Models (LLMs), developers need efficient tools to craft, test, and manage prompts and the complex data pipelines that feed them. dc-artisan was born out of the need for an integrated environment that brings prompt engineering and RAG pipeline management directly into the developer’s primary workspace—VSCode. By leveraging the robust and high-performance data platform capabilities of InterSystems IRIS, dc-artisan offers a seamless and powerful solution for building the next generation of AI applications.

🛠️ How It Works

dc-artisan is composed of two main tools: Prompt Enhance and RAG Pipeline Mode.

Prompt Enhance

This tool is designed to help you craft and test your prompts with precision.

• Markdown-based Editing: Write and structure your prompts using the familiar Markdown syntax.
• Dynamic Variables: Easily highlight variables using {variable} format (e.g., {language}, {task}).
• Live Preview: Input test values for your variables and instantly preview the final prompt with the substitutions applied.
• Multi-Provider Testing: Test your prompts against various LLM providers like OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), and more, thanks to the LiteLLM backend.
• AI-Powered Suggestions: Analyzes your prompt and asks clarifying questions to help you enrich and improve it.

RAG Pipeline Mode

Manage the entire lifecycle of your RAG pipeline’s knowledge base.

• Document Management:
  • Upload and embed new documents directly into the vector database.
  • Automatically extract text from common file formats like PDF, PPT, DOCX, and more.
• Embedding Operations:
  • Atomically view, update, and delete individual text chunks from your vector store.
  • Perform cost-efficient operations like copying entire documents or namespaces without the need to re-embed the content.
• Multi-User Features:
  • Full support for multi-user backend instances, allowing teams to collaborate seamlessly.
  • Includes user/session tracking and detailed audit logs for security and monitoring.

📋 Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Docker and Docker Compose
• Visual Studio Code
• An API Key from at least one LLM provider (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere).

🛠️ Installation

The backend is containerized for easy setup. Follow these steps to get it running.

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [https://github.com/musketeers-br/dc-artisan.git](https://github.com/musketeers-br/dc-artisan.git)
   cd dc-artisan
   

2. Build the Docker container:
   This command builds the necessary images for the application. The --no-cache flag ensures you are building from the latest source.

   docker-compose build --no-cache --progress=plain
   

3. Start the application:
   This command starts the services in detached mode (-d).

   docker-compose up -d
   

4. Stop and remove containers (when done):
   To stop the application and remove all associated containers, networks, and volumes.

   docker-compose down --rmi all
   

💡 How to Use

Backend Configuration

For dc-artisan to communicate with LLM providers, you must configure the Business Operation in the InterSystems IRIS backend with your API keys.

dc-artisan uses LiteLLM, which allows you to connect to multiple providers simultaneously. You need to provide a JSON object containing your API keys in the format expected by LiteLLM.

Example JSON configuration:

{
  "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-...",
  "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-ant-...",
  "COHERE_API_KEY": "...",
  "GEMINI_API_KEY": "..."
}

You will add this JSON configuration to the appropriate setting within the IRIS Business Operation for dc-artisan.

Compiling and Packaging the VSCode Extension

Follow these steps to compile and generate the .vsix file for the extension, which you can then install in VSCode.

Install Node.js:
If you don’t have it, install it from nodejs.org.

Navigate to the extension folder:
From the root of the project, go into the vscode-extension directory.

cd vscode-extension

Install dependencies:

npm install

Install vsce globally:
vsce is the official tool for packaging VSCode extensions.

npm install -g @vscode/vsce

Compile the extension:
This will transpile the TypeScript code into JavaScript.

npm run compile

Package the extension:
This command creates the .vsix file.

vsce package

After running the package command, a file named dc-artisan-x.x.x.vsix will be created in the vscode-extension folder. You can install this file directly into VSCode through the Extensions view (… > “Install from VSIX…”).

Artisan on VSCode Marketplace

🎖️ Credits

Artisan is developed with ❤️ by the Musketeers Team

• José Roberto Pereira
• Henry Pereira
• Henrique Dias