The easiest way to get started with AI Assistant is to clone our sample GitHub repository. This repository has everything set up and provides a default web document viewer to get you started quickly. The only configuration required is your OpenAI API key.
Otherwise, to start from scratch, continue following the example below.
About AI Assistant
AI Assistant provides Nutrient Web SDK with AI functionality. Using intelligent document processing (IDP) technology, AI Assistant enables users to query, summarize, and translate documents on the fly.
To set up a fully functional AI system, you’ll need a Docker container service and a library working in unison:
Nutrient Web SDK — A document viewer in the browser that also exposes a user interface (UI) for the AI features.
AI Assistant — A service to process the AI requests and process documents.
This guide will walk you through the setup for AI Assistant. It’ll then walk you through a Node.js Nutrient Web SDK example to show how each service communicates to serve an AI example.
Prerequisites
Installing Docker
AI Assistant is distributed as a Docker container. To run it on your computer, you need to install a Docker runtime distribution for your operating system.
Install and start Docker Desktop for Mac. Refer to the Docker website for instructions.
Install and start Docker Desktop for Windows. Refer to the Docker website for instructions.
Install and start Docker Engine. Refer to the Docker website for instructions on how to install it for your Linux distribution.
After you install Docker, use these instructions to install Docker Compose.
Obtaining an OpenAI API key
AI Assistant requires an API key from either of these LLM providers:
OpenAI
Azure OpenAI
This example will use OpenAI, but if you’d like to use Azure OpenAI, refer to the Azure OpenAI guide.
If you don’t have an OpenAI key, create one by following the steps in the next section. Otherwise, skip to step 2.
Creating an OpenAI account
To create an OpenAI account, sign up to obtain an API key.
The OpenAI API has attained SOC 2 Type 2 compliance (see the official announcement).
Save your API key somewhere safe, as you’ll need it in the following step.
Setting up AI Assistant
AI Assistant requires a PostgreSQL database with the pgvector extension to operate.
Copy the code snippet below and save it anywhere on your computer in a file called docker-compose.yml. Replace the <your-openai-api-key> placeholder with your OpenAI API key:
Use the terminal emulator integrated with your code editor or IDE. Alternatively, you can use Terminal.app or iTerm2.
Use the terminal emulator integrated with your code editor or IDE. Alternatively, you can use PowerShell.
Use the terminal emulator integrated with your code editor or IDE, or one bundled with your desktop environment.
Go to the directory where you saved the docker-compose.yml file:
cd <path-to-directory-with-docker-compose-yml>
Run the following:
docker-compose up
This command might take a while to run, depending on your internet connection speed. Wait until you see the following message in the terminal:
ai_document_assistant | info: AI Assistant started
AI Assistant is now up and running!
Setting up Nutrient Web SDK
Installing Node.js
If you haven’t installed Node.js, head to the official guides and follow the instructions. By the end of the installation process, you should be able to run the following command:
node --version
The output should be something like v14. You can ignore any subsequent number.
Generating the application
You’ll use Express, one of the most common Node.js web frameworks. To create a new Express application, you can use the official generator.
Run:
npx express-generator pspdfkit_example --view=ejs
This command will generate a project structure and instruct you on the steps to follow to install dependencies and start the project.
Once you’ve followed all the steps, you should be able to visit http://localhost:3000 to confirm the application is working as expected.
Configuring AI Assistant in Nutrient Web SDK
To configure Nutrient Web SDK to use AI Assistant:
Generate a JSON Web Token (JWT) on the backend for AI Assistant communication
var express = require("express");
var router = express.Router();
router.get('/', function (_req, res, _next) {
res.render('documents/show')
})
module.exports = router;
Create the AI Assistant JWT:
./routes/documents.js
var express = require("express");
var router = express.Router();
+ var fs = require("fs");
+ var path = require("path");
+ var jwt = require("jsonwebtoken");
+ var jwtKey = fs.readFileSync(
+ path.resolve(__dirname, "../config/pspdfkit/jwt.pem")
+ );
router.get("/", function (req, res, next) {
+ var aiJwt = prepareAIDocumentAssistantJwt();
- res.render("documents/show");
+ res.render("documents/show", { aiJwt: aiJwt });
});
+
+ const prepareAIDocumentAssistantJwt = function (documentId) {
+ var claims = {}
+
+ return jwt.sign(claims, jwtKey, {
+ algorithm: "RS256",
+ expiresIn: 60 * 60, // 1hr, this will set the `exp` claim.
+ allowInsecureKeySizes: true,
+ });
+ }
module.exports = router;
Create a corresponding view with some minimal HTML that loads the Nutrient library, uses the JWT created by the router in the previous step, and adds a toolbar item to activate AI Assistant:
Refresh the page, and you’ll see the Nutrient Web SDK viewer with a new AI toolbar button. Click that button and the chat dialog will open and the document processing mechanism will begin. Once the spinner has stopped spinning, you’ll be able to interact with AI Assistant!
Demo project
The easiest way to get started with AI Assistant is to clone our sample GitHub repository. This repository has all the services set up and provides a default web document viewer to get you started quickly. The only configuration required is your OpenAI API key.
Otherwise, to start from scratch, you can continue following the example below.
About AI Assistant
AI Assistant provides Nutrient Web SDK with AI functionality. Using intelligent document processing (IDP) technology, AI Assistant provides the ability to query, summarize, and translate documents on the fly.
To set up a fully functional AI system, you’ll need two services and one library, all working in unison:
Nutrient Web SDK — A document viewer in the browser that also exposes a user interface (UI) for the AI features.
AI Assistant — A service to process the AI requests and process documents.
Document Engine — A service that stores and serves documents to AI Assistant and Nutrient Web SDK.
This guide will walk you through the setup for AI Assistant and Document Engine so they can work in tandem. It’ll then walk you through a Node.js Nutrient Web SDK example to show how each service communicates to serve an AI example.
Prerequisites
Installing Docker
AI Assistant is distributed as a Docker container. To run it on your computer, you need to install a Docker runtime distribution for your operating system.
Install and start Docker Desktop for Mac. Refer to the Docker website for instructions.
Install and start Docker Desktop for Windows. Refer to the Docker website for instructions.
Install and start Docker Engine. Refer to the Docker website for instructions on how to install it for your Linux distribution.
After you install Docker, use these instructions to install Docker Compose.
Obtaining an OpenAI API key
AI Assistant requires an API key from either of these LLM providers:
OpenAI
Azure OpenAI
This example will use OpenAI, but if you’d like to use Azure OpenAI, refer to the Azure OpenAI guide
If you don’t have an OpenAI key, create one by following the steps in the next section. Otherwise, skip to step 2.
Creating an OpenAI account
To create an OpenAI account, sign up to obtain an API key.
The OpenAI API has attained SOC 2 Type 2 compliance (see the official announcement).
Save your API key somewhere safe, as you’ll need it in the following step.
Setting up AI Assistant and Document Engine
AI Assistant works alongside Document Engine and requires a PostgreSQL database with the pgvector extension to operate.
Copy the code snippet below and save it anywhere on your computer in a file called docker-compose.yml. Replace the <your-openai-api-key> placeholder with your OpenAI API key:
Use the terminal emulator integrated with your code editor or IDE. Alternatively, you can use Terminal.app or iTerm2.
Use the terminal emulator integrated with your code editor or IDE. Alternatively, you can use PowerShell.
Use the terminal emulator integrated with your code editor or IDE, or one bundled with your desktop environment.
Go to the directory where you saved the docker-compose.yml file:
cd <path-to-directory-with-docker-compose-yml>
Run the following:
docker-compose up
This command might take a while to run, depending on your internet connection speed. Wait until you see the following message in the terminal:
ai_assistant | info: AI Assistant started
AI Assistant is now up and running! Upload a document you can chat with.
Uploading a document to Document Engine
With Document Engine running, visit http://localhost:5000/dashboard and authenticate using “dashboard” for the username and “secret” for the password. Choose Add Document and upload the document you want to work with.
Once the document is uploaded, visit http://localhost:5000/dashboard/documents to see the list of available documents. Each document is identified by an ID. Take note of the ID of the document you just uploaded, as you’ll need it shortly.
The ID will look similar to 7KPS8X13JRB2G841X4V7EQ3T2J.
Setting up Nutrient Web SDK
Installing Node.js
If you haven’t installed Node.js, head to the official guides and follow the instructions. By the end of the installation process, you should be able to run the following command:
node --version
The output should be something like v14. You can ignore any subsequent number.
Generating the application
You’ll use Express, one of the most common Node.js web frameworks. To create a new Express application, you can use the official generator.
Run:
npx express-generator pspdfkit_example --view=ejs
This command will generate a project structure and instruct you on the steps to follow to install dependencies and start the project.
Once you’ve followed all the steps, you should be able to visit http://localhost:3000 to confirm the application is working as expected.
Adding a page to view the document
You need to create a page that will show a document stored inside Document Engine.
You’ll want this page to be available at http://localhost:3000/documents/:id, where the document ID is the ID automatically assigned by Document Engine when uploading a document.
To achieve this, create a new route to display a document and mount it in the application.
Create the document’s route:
./routes/documents.js
var express = require("express");
var router = express.Router();
router.get("/:documentId", function (req, res, next) {
res.render("documents/show", { documentId: req.params.documentId });
});
module.exports = router;
Inside the route, retrieve the ID captured by the routing logic and assign it to a documentId variable you can refer to in the view.
Create a corresponding view with some minimal HTML that prints the document ID:
./views/documents/show.ejs
<h1>Show document <%= documentId %></h1>
Mount the new route in the application:
./app.js
var indexRouter = require('./routes/index');
var usersRouter = require('./routes/users');
+var documentsRouter = require("./routes/documents");
// ...
// rest of the file
// ...
app.use('/', indexRouter);
app.use('/users', usersRouter);
+app.use("/documents", documentsRouter);
Stop and restart the Express server.
You can now visit http://localhost:3000/documents/:id, replacing :id with the ID of the document you uploaded to the Document Engine dashboard.
The page should contain the text Show document, followed by your document ID.
Creating a JSON Web Token (JWT)
Nutrient requires the use of JWTs to authenticate and authorize a viewer session against Document Engine.
To create JWTs, install the jsonwebtoken dependency:
npm install --save jsonwebtoken
Stop and restart the Express server.
Working with JWTs requires a private and public key pair. The private key is used by the Express application, while the public key is used by Document Engine.
The public key has already been configured in the Document Engine docker-compose.yml file via the JWT_PUBLIC_KEY environment variable.
To configure the private key, create a config/pspdfkit/jwt.pem file with the following contents:
Refresh the page, and you’ll see the Nutrient Web SDK viewer showing the document you just uploaded. If you annotate the document and refresh the page, all changes will be automatically persisted.
Configuring AI Assistant in Nutrient Web SDK
To configure Nutrient Web SDK to use AI Assistant:
Generate a JSON Web Token (JWT) on the backend for AI Assistant communication
Refresh the page, and you’ll see the Nutrient Web SDK viewer with a new AI toolbar button. Click that button and the chat dialog will open and the document processing mechanism will begin. Once the spinner has stopped spinning, you’ll be able to interact with AI Assistant!
