NoBrainer RAG

A dead simple RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) system that just works. Built for developers who want to add memory to their AI applications without overthinking it.

Why NoBrainer?

• 🚀 Simple API - Just 3 methods: add(), query(), clear()
• 🔒 Namespace Isolation - Each conversation gets its own isolated namespace
• 💾 Persistent Memory - Data survives even if your object doesn't
• 🎯 Smart Retrieval - RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter + FlashRank reranking built-in
• ⚡ Flexible - Swap embedding models, toggle reranking, adjust on the fly
• 🌍 Cloud Agnostic - Works with AWS, GCP, or Azure Pinecone regions

Installation

pip install NoBrainerRag

Or clone and install:

git clone https://github.com/AarushSrivatsa/NoBrainerRag.git
cd NoBrainerRag
pip install -e .

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What Makes This Actually Good

Most RAG tutorials give you basic vector search and call it a day. NoBrainer comes with production-grade features out of the box:

📊 RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter (Smart Chunking)

Not your average "split every N characters" nonsense. This intelligently splits text by:

1. Paragraphs first (\n\n)
2. Then sentences (.)
3. Then clauses (,)
4. Finally words as a last resort

Why this matters: Preserves semantic meaning. You don't get chunks that cut off mid-sentence or split important context.

🎯 FlashRank Reranking (Better Results)

Every single retrieval automatically:

1. Gets 10 candidate chunks from Pinecone
2. Runs them through FlashRank (ms-marco-MiniLM-L-12-v2)
3. Returns only the top 4 most relevant

Why this matters: Vector similarity isn't perfect. Reranking catches what embeddings miss, giving you the actually relevant results.

You can toggle this on/off anytime - just set rag.use_reranking = False if you want raw vector search.

🧠 Flexible Embedding Models

Defaults to nomic-embed-text:v1.5 via Ollama - one of the best open-source embedding models. Runs locally.

But you can use ANY embedding model:

• OpenAI embeddings
• Cohere embeddings
• HuggingFace models
• Any LangChain-compatible embedding

Why this matters: No vendor lock-in. Use what works best for your use case.

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Prerequisites

1. Pinecone API Key (Required)

Get your free API key from Pinecone.

Create a .env file:

PINECONE_API_KEY=your_key_here

2. Ollama with Embedding Model (Only if using default embeddings)

If you're using the default Ollama embeddings, install Ollama and pull the model:

ollama pull nomic-embed-text:v1.5

If you're bringing your own embedding model, skip this step.

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Quick Start

from NoBrainerRag import NoBrainerRag

# Create a RAG instance with a namespace
rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",
    index_name="my-rag-index"
)

# Insert some knowledge
rag.add("Paris is the capital of France.")
rag.add("Python is a programming language created by Guido van Rossum.")

# Retrieve relevant info
result = rag.query("What is the capital of France?")
print(result)

# Delete when done
rag.clear()

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🔥 The Magic: Persistent Memory

Here's the cool part - your data persists even if the object is gone:

# Session 1: Insert data
rag = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="my-index")
rag.add("Important information here")
del rag  # Object is destroyed

# Session 2: Access the same data later
rag = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="my-index")  # Same namespace!
result = rag.query("tell me about important information")
# Your data is still there! 🎉

🗂️ How Pinecone Storage Works

Index = The Database
Your index_name is the top-level Pinecone index where ALL your data lives. Think of it as your database.

Namespace = The Conversation
Your namespace parameter creates an isolated namespace INSIDE that index. Each conversation is completely isolated.

Pinecone Index: "my-chatbot-memory"
├── Namespace: "user_123" (namespace="user_123")
│   ├── chunk_1: "Paris is the capital..."
│   ├── chunk_2: "Python was created..."
│   └── chunk_3: "Machine learning is..."
├── Namespace: "user_456" (namespace="user_456")
│   ├── chunk_1: "Tokyo is in Japan..."
│   └── chunk_2: "JavaScript runs in..."
└── Namespace: "doc_789" (namespace="doc_789")
    └── chunk_1: "This document explains..."

What this means:

• One Pinecone index can hold thousands of namespaces
• Each namespace is completely isolated (no data leakage)
• Same index + same namespace = same memory, always
• Delete a namespace = only that data is wiped

⚠️ CRITICAL: How Memory Persistence Works

To access the exact same memory across sessions, you MUST have:

✅ Same Pinecone index (index_name parameter)
✅ Same namespace (namespace parameter)

# These will access THE SAME memory:
rag1 = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="my-index")
rag2 = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="my-index")
# ✅ Same data

# These will have DIFFERENT memory:
rag1 = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="my-index")
rag2 = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_456", index_name="my-index")
# ❌ Different namespace = different memory

# These will also have DIFFERENT memory:
rag1 = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="my-index")
rag2 = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="other-index")
# ❌ Different index = completely different database = different memory

The Rule: Same index + same namespace = same memory. Change either and you get a fresh memory space.

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API Reference

Initialization

rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",                   # Required: Unique namespace identifier
    index_name="my-rag-index",              # Required: Pinecone index name
    embedding_model=None,                   # Optional: Custom embedding model
    chunk_size=400,                         # Optional: Size of text chunks
    chunk_overlap=75,                       # Optional: Overlap between chunks
    separators=["\n\n", "\n", ".", ",", " ", ""],  # Optional: Split points
    base_k=10,                              # Optional: Initial retrieval count
    top_n=4,                                # Optional: Results after reranking
    use_reranking=True,                     # Optional: Enable FlashRank
    rerank_model="ms-marco-MiniLM-L-12-v2", # Optional: Reranking model
    pinecone_cloud="aws",                   # Optional: Cloud provider
    pinecone_region="us-east-1",            # Optional: Region
    similarity_metric="cosine"              # Optional: Vector similarity metric
)

Methods

add(text: str)
Insert text into the vector database. Automatically chunks and embeds it.

rag.add("Your text here")
# Returns: "Insertion Successful: 3 chunks created"

query(query: str)
Retrieve relevant content for a query.

results = rag.query("What is the capital of France?")
# Returns formatted string with top relevant chunks

clear()
Delete all documents in this namespace.

rag.clear()
# Returns: "RAG memory of namespace 'user_123' was successfully wiped out"

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Advanced Usage

Custom Embedding Models

from langchain_openai import OpenAIEmbeddings
from langchain_cohere import CohereEmbeddings

# Use OpenAI embeddings
rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",
    index_name="my-index",
    embedding_model=OpenAIEmbeddings(model="text-embedding-3-small")
)

# Or Cohere
rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",
    index_name="my-index",
    embedding_model=CohereEmbeddings(model="embed-english-v3.0")
)

Disable Reranking for Speed

# At initialization
rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",
    index_name="my-index",
    use_reranking=False  # Skip reranking for faster results
)

# Or toggle it anytime
rag.use_reranking = False
result = rag.query("fast query")  # Uses raw vector search

rag.use_reranking = True
result = rag.query("precise query")  # Uses reranking

Adjust Retrieval Parameters on the Fly

rag = NoBrainerRag(namespace="user_123", index_name="my-index")

# Start with defaults (base_k=10, top_n=4)
result = rag.query("my query")

# Need more context? Change it
rag.base_k = 20
rag.top_n = 8
result = rag.query("complex query")  # Now retrieves more chunks

# Back to focused results
rag.base_k = 5
rag.top_n = 2
result = rag.query("simple query")

Multi-Region Setup

# Use GCP in Europe
rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",
    index_name="my-index",
    pinecone_cloud="gcp",
    pinecone_region="europe-west1"
)

# Or Azure in East US
rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",
    index_name="my-index",
    pinecone_cloud="azure",
    pinecone_region="eastus"
)

Custom Chunking Strategy

# Larger chunks with more overlap
rag = NoBrainerRag(
    namespace="user_123",
    index_name="my-index",
    chunk_size=800,
    chunk_overlap=150,
    separators=["\n\n\n", "\n\n", "\n"]  # Only split on paragraph breaks
)

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Common Use Cases

Chatbot with Memory

# When user starts chatting
rag = NoBrainerRag(namespace=user.id, index_name="chatbot-memory")

# As conversation progresses
rag.add(f"User said: {user_message}")
rag.add(f"Assistant replied: {bot_response}")

# When generating responses
context = rag.query(user_message)
# Feed context to your LLM

Document Q&A

rag = NoBrainerRag(namespace="doc_session_456", index_name="documents")

# Load your document
with open("document.txt") as f:
    content = f.read()
    rag.add(content)

# Ask questions
answer = rag.query("What is the main topic?")

Multi-User Application

# Each user gets isolated memory (separate namespace)
user1_rag = NoBrainerRag(namespace=f"user_{user1.id}", index_name="app-memory")
user2_rag = NoBrainerRag(namespace=f"user_{user2.id}", index_name="app-memory")

# Their data never mixes - guaranteed namespace isolation

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Under the Hood

NoBrainer RAG uses battle-tested, production-grade tools so you don't have to piece them together yourself:

• Embeddings: Ollama with nomic-embed-text:v1.5 (768 dimensions, state-of-the-art, runs locally)
• Chunking: LangChain's RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter - respects semantic boundaries
• Reranking: FlashRank with ms-marco-MiniLM-L-12-v2 - automatically improves precision
• Vector Database: Pinecone (serverless, production-scale)
• Retrieval: LangChain's contextual compression retriever (retrieves 10 → reranks → returns top 4)

The pipeline:

1. Text → RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter breaks it into semantic chunks
2. Chunks → Nomic embeddings convert to 768-dim vectors
3. Store → Pinecone index with namespace isolation
4. Query → Retrieve top 10 candidates based on vector similarity
5. Rerank → FlashRank re-scores all 10 and picks the actual best 4 matches
6. Return → Formatted, contextually relevant results ready to use

This isn't a toy setup - this is the right way to do RAG. The kind of pipeline you'd spend a week researching and building yourself. Except it's already done.

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FAQ

Q: Do I need to keep the same NoBrainerRag object alive?
A: Nope! As long as you use the same index name and namespace, you can create new objects anytime and access the same data.

Q: What happens if I use the same namespace twice?
A: That's the point! Same index + same namespace = same memory. It's a feature, not a bug.

Q: Can I use this in production?
A: Yeah, it's built on production-grade tools (Pinecone, LangChain, Ollama). Just make sure your Pinecone plan can handle your scale.

Q: How much does Pinecone cost?
A: They have a generous free tier. Check Pinecone pricing.

Q: Can I change the embedding model?
A: Yes! Pass any LangChain-compatible embedding model to the embedding_model parameter.

Q: Is my data secure?
A: Data is stored in your Pinecone account. Use their security features + keep your API keys safe.

Q: Can I adjust retrieval settings after initialization?
A: Yes! Just change instance variables like rag.base_k = 20 or rag.use_reranking = False and the next query will use the new settings.

Q: What's the difference between index and namespace?
A: Index = your database. Namespace = an isolated partition inside that database. One index can hold many namespaces.

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Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• Pinecone API key
• Ollama installed locally (only if using default embeddings)
• nomic-embed-text:v1.5 model pulled in Ollama (only if using default embeddings)

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Contributing

Found a bug? Have an idea? PRs welcome! Keep it simple though - the goal is "no brainer", not "all the features".

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License

MIT - do whatever you want with it.

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Support

If this saved you hours of work, star the repo ⭐ and help other devs find it!

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Built with ❤️ for developers who just want things to work.