NLWeb Network

Network interfaces and server for NLWeb - provides HTTP, MCP, and A2A protocol adapters.

Overview

nlweb-network provides transport layer adapters that convert protocol-specific requests into a common format for NLWeb handlers, and convert NLWeb outputs back into the appropriate protocol format.

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Protocol Adapters                   │
│  (HTTP SSE, HTTP JSON, MCP SSE, MCP HTTP)    │
└──────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                   │
                   ↓
         ┌─────────────────┐
         │  NLWeb Handlers │
         │  (Core Package) │
         └─────────────────┘

Supported Protocols

HTTP Interfaces

HTTP with Server-Sent Events (Default)

• Endpoint: /ask (GET/POST)
• Parameter: streaming=true (default)
• Use case: Real-time streaming of results as they're generated

curl "http://localhost:8080/ask?query=best+pasta+recipe"

HTTP with JSON Response

• Endpoint: /ask (GET/POST)
• Parameter: streaming=false
• Use case: Get complete results in single JSON response

curl "http://localhost:8080/ask?query=best+pasta+recipe&streaming=false"

MCP (Model Context Protocol) Interfaces

MCP over HTTP (StreamableHTTP)

• Endpoint: /mcp (POST)
• Format: JSON-RPC 2.0
• Use case: Standard MCP integration for tools/agents

# Test with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector http://localhost:8080/mcp

MCP over Server-Sent Events

• Endpoint: /mcp-sse (GET/POST)
• Format: JSON-RPC 2.0 over SSE
• Use case: Streaming MCP responses in real-time

A2A (Agent-to-Agent) Interfaces

(Coming soon)

Installation

# Install from PyPI (when published)
pip install nlweb-network

# Or install from source
pip install -e packages/network

Usage

Starting the Server

from nlweb_network.server import main

# Start server with default configuration
main()

Or use the command-line entry point:

nlweb-server

Using Interface Adapters

You can use the interface adapters directly in your own applications:

from aiohttp import web
from nlweb_network.interfaces import HTTPJSONInterface, HTTPSSEInterface
from nlweb_core.handler import NLWebHandler

# For non-streaming JSON responses
async def my_handler(request):
    interface = HTTPJSONInterface()
    return await interface.handle_request(request, NLWebHandler)

# For streaming SSE responses
async def my_streaming_handler(request):
    interface = HTTPSSEInterface()
    return await interface.handle_request(request, NLWebHandler)

Interface Adapters

All interface adapters inherit from BaseInterface and implement:

• parse_request() - Extract query parameters from protocol-specific request
• send_response() - Send data in protocol-specific format
• finalize_response() - Close/finalize the response stream
• handle_request() - Complete request/response cycle

Available Interfaces

Configuration

The server uses configuration from nlweb-core:

# config.yaml
server:
  host: localhost
  port: 8080
  enable_cors: true

Endpoints

/ask - HTTP Query Endpoint

GET/POST - Natural language query with NLWeb RAG pipeline

Parameters:

• query (required) - Natural language query
• site (optional) - Filter by site (default: "all")
• num_results (optional) - Number of results (default: 50)
• streaming (optional) - Enable SSE streaming (default: true)

Examples:

# Streaming (SSE)
curl "http://localhost:8080/ask?query=spicy+snacks&site=seriouseats"

# Non-streaming (JSON)
curl "http://localhost:8080/ask?query=spicy+snacks&streaming=false"

# POST with JSON body
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/ask \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d '{"query": "spicy snacks", "streaming": false}'

/mcp - MCP Protocol Endpoint

POST - JSON-RPC 2.0 requests for MCP protocol

Methods:

• initialize - Protocol handshake
• tools/list - List available tools
• tools/call - Execute tool (routes to NLWeb handlers)

Example:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/mcp \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d '{
       "jsonrpc": "2.0",
       "id": 1,
       "method": "tools/call",
       "params": {
         "name": "ask",
         "arguments": {"query": "best pasta recipe"}
       }
     }'

/mcp-sse - MCP with SSE Streaming

GET/POST - MCP protocol with Server-Sent Events

Same as /mcp but streams results via SSE for tools/call.

/health - Health Check

GET - Simple health check

curl http://localhost:8080/health
# {"status": "ok"}

Dependencies

• nlweb-core>=0.5.0 - Core NLWeb handlers and business logic
• aiohttp>=3.8.0 - Async HTTP server
• aiohttp-cors>=0.7.0 - CORS support

Development

# Install in editable mode with dev dependencies
pip install -e "packages/network[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest packages/network/tests

License

MIT License - Copyright (c) 2025 Microsoft Corporation