chatnificent 0.0.26

LLM chat app framework - Minimally complete. Maximally hackable

Chatnificent

LLM chat app framework. Minimally complete. Maximally hackable.

Pre-built chat UIs give you a working app but almost no way to customize it. Building from scratch gives you full control but means wiring up a UI, LLM client, message store, streaming, auth, and tool calling yourself.

Chatnificent is a Python framework where each of those concerns is an independent, swappable component. You get a working app immediately. When you need to change something — the LLM provider, the database, the entire UI — you swap one component, instead of rewriting the whole app.

Quickstart

pip install chatnificent

import chatnificent as chat

app = chat.Chatnificent()
app.run()  # http://127.0.0.1:7777

No API keys, no extras, no configuration. You get a working chat UI with the built-in Echo LLM, a stdlib HTTP server, and an HTML/JS frontend — all with zero dependencies.

One Install Away from Real LLM Responses

pip install openai
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

Run the same code. Chatnificent auto-detects the installed OpenAI SDK and your API key — no code change needed.

Swap Anything

Every component is a pillar you can swap independently:

import chatnificent as chat

# Different LLM providers
app = chat.Chatnificent(llm=chat.llm.Anthropic())   # pip install anthropic
app = chat.Chatnificent(llm=chat.llm.Gemini())       # pip install google-genai
app = chat.Chatnificent(llm=chat.llm.Ollama())       # pip install ollama (local)

# Persistent storage
app = chat.Chatnificent(store=chat.store.SQLite(db_path="chats.db"))
app = chat.Chatnificent(store=chat.store.File(base_dir="./conversations"))

# Mix and match
app = chat.Chatnificent(
    llm=chat.llm.Anthropic(),
    store=chat.store.SQLite(db_path="conversations.db"),
    layout=chat.layout.Bootstrap(),  # Requires: pip install "chatnificent[dash]"
)

Streaming by Default

All LLM providers stream by default — token-by-token delivery via Server-Sent Events. Opt out with stream=False:

app = chat.Chatnificent(llm=chat.llm.OpenAI(stream=False))

Binary Outputs, Persisted Automatically

LLMs increasingly return bytes — audio, images, PDFs. Chatnificent persists the bytes to disk and keeps the conversation log tiny.

With an LLM subclass that returns audio bytes, a two-turn conversation renders like this in the browser:

You: Testing, one, two, three.

Bot: ▶ ──●────────── 0:02

You: Now say it backwards.

Bot: ▶ ──●────────── 0:02

Each Bot turn is a native HTML5 <audio> player; shown here as ASCII because GitHub sanitizes <audio> tags from rendered markdown.

On disk:

conversations/
└── anonymous/
    └── ce974dfa/
        ├── messages.json
        └── audio/
            ├── 0.mp3
            └── 1.mp3

messages.json carries short HTML references, not the audio bytes:

[
  {"role": "user", "content": "Testing, one, two, three."},
  {"role": "assistant", "content": "<audio src=\"/anonymous/ce974dfa/audio/0.mp3\" controls></audio>"},
  {"role": "user", "content": "Now say it backwards."},
  {"role": "assistant", "content": "<audio src=\"/anonymous/ce974dfa/audio/1.mp3\" controls></audio>"}
]

The framework serves those files at /<user_id>/<convo_id>/<file_path>, so they stream cleanly to the browser and survive page reloads. Swap the wrapper for <img> or <video> and the same machinery handles images and video.

The Architecture: 9 Pillars

Every major function is handled by an independent pillar with an abstract interface:

Pillar	Purpose	Default	Implementations
Server	HTTP transport	DevServer (stdlib)	DevServer, DashServer
Layout	UI rendering	Default (HTML/JS)	Default, Bootstrap, Mantine, Minimal
LLM	LLM API calls	OpenAI / Echo	OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, DeepSeek, Ollama, Echo
Store	Persistence	InMemory	InMemory, File, SQLite
Engine	Orchestration	Orchestrator	Orchestrator
Auth	User identification	Anonymous	Anonymous, SingleUser
Tools	Function calling	NoTool	PythonTool, NoTool
Retrieval	RAG / context	NoRetrieval	NoRetrieval
URL	Route parsing	PathBased	PathBased, QueryParams

Dash-based layouts (Bootstrap, Mantine, Minimal) require pip install "chatnificent[dash]" and the DashServer.

Customize the Engine

The Orchestrator manages the full request lifecycle: conversation resolution, RAG retrieval, the agentic tool-calling loop, and persistence. Override hooks (for monitoring) and seams (for logic):

import chatnificent as chat
from typing import Any, Optional

class CustomEngine(chat.engine.Orchestrator):

    def _after_llm_call(self, llm_response: Any) -> None:
        tokens = getattr(llm_response, 'usage', 'N/A')
        print(f"Tokens: {tokens}")

    def _prepare_llm_payload(self, conversation, retrieval_context: Optional[str]):
        payload = super()._prepare_llm_payload(conversation, retrieval_context)
        if not any(m['role'] == 'system' for m in payload):
            payload.insert(0, {"role": "system", "content": "Be concise."})
        return payload

app = chat.Chatnificent(engine=CustomEngine())

Build Your Own Pillars

Implement the abstract interface and inject it:

import chatnificent as chat
from chatnificent.models import Conversation

class MongoStore(chat.store.Store):
    def save_conversation(self, user_id, conversation): ...
    def load_conversation(self, user_id, convo_id): ...
    def list_conversations(self, user_id): ...

app = chat.Chatnificent(store=MongoStore())

Every pillar works the same way: subclass the ABC, implement the required methods, pass it in.

Can't Wait? Try It Right Now

No cloning, no installing — just install uv and run any example directly from GitHub:

Note: Most examples require LLM provider API keys. Set the ones you need before running:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="AI..."
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-..."

quickstart.py and persistent_storage.py work with zero keys (Echo LLM).

# Zero-dep — works immediately
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/quickstart.py

# LLM providers
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/llm_providers.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/ollama_local.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/openrouter_models.py

# Features
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/persistent_storage.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/tool_calling.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/system_prompt.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/multi_tool_agent.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/memory_tool.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/memory_tool_multi_user.py

# Customization
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/single_user.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/auto_title.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/custom_branding.py

# Display enrichment
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/usage_display.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/usage_display_multi_provider.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/conversation_title.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/conversation_summary.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/display_redaction.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/web_search.py

# Starlette server (requires OPENAI_API_KEY)
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/starlette_quickstart.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/starlette_server_options.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/starlette_uvicorn_options.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/starlette_multi_mount.py

# OpenAI Responses API (requires OPENAI_API_KEY)
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/openai_responses.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/openai_responses_website_search.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/openai_responses_image_generator.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/openai_responses_image_studio.py

# UI Interactions (requires OPENAI_API_KEY)
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/ui_interactions.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/openai_responses_interactive_search.py
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/single_app_multi_chat_mode.py

# OpenAI Cookbook — From Cookbook to Production (requires OPENAI_API_KEY)
uv run --script https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliasdabbas/chatnificent/main/examples/How_to_call_functions_with_chat_models.py

Examples

The examples/ directory has 31 standalone scripts covering basics, tool calling, display enrichment, web search, and more — each runnable with a single command:

uv run --script examples/quickstart.py

See the examples README for the full list.