sulci 0.5.1

The AI native context-aware semantic cache for LLM apps — Patent Pending - stop paying for the same answer twice

Sulci Cache

The AI native context-aware semantic caching for LLM apps — stop paying for the same answer twice

Sulci Cache is a drop-in Python library that caches LLM responses by semantic meaning, not exact string match. When a user asks "How do I deploy to AWS?" and someone else later asks "What's the process for deploying on AWS?", Sulci Cache returns the cached answer instead of calling the LLM again — saving cost and latency.

---

Why Sulci Cache

Without Sulci Cache	With Sulci Cache
Every query hits the LLM API	Semantically similar queries return instantly from cache
$0.005 per call, every time	Cache hits cost ~$0.0001 (embedding only)
1–3 second response time	Cache hits return in <10ms
No memory across sessions	Context-aware: understands conversation history

Benchmark results (v0.5.0, 5,000 queries):

• Overall hit rate: 85.9%
• Hit latency p50: 0.74ms (vs ~1,840ms for a live LLM call)
• Cost saved per 10k queries: $21.47
• Context-aware mode: +20.8pp resolution accuracy over stateless

---

Install

Step 1 — Install Sulci Cache with a backend:

pip install "sulci[sqlite]"    # SQLite — zero infra, local dev (start here)
pip install "sulci[chroma]"    # ChromaDB
pip install "sulci[faiss]"     # FAISS
pip install "sulci[qdrant]"    # Qdrant
pip install "sulci[redis]"     # Redis + RedisVL
pip install "sulci[milvus]"    # Milvus Lite
pip install "sulci[cloud]"     # Sulci Cloud managed backend

LangChain integration:

pip install "sulci[sqlite,langchain]"   # + LangChain integration

LlamaIndex integration:

pip install "sulci[sqlite,llamaindex]"  # + LlamaIndex native integration

AsyncCache (non-blocking async wrapper):

pip install "sulci[sqlite]"   # AsyncCache is included — no extra install needed

Step 2 — Install your LLM SDK (required for cached_call with a live model):

pip install anthropic           # for Anthropic / Claude
pip install openai              # for OpenAI

zsh users: always wrap extras in quotes — "sulci[sqlite]" not sulci[sqlite].

---

LangChain Integration

Sulci Cache is the only LangChain cache that implements context-aware lookup vector blending — blending prior conversation turns into the similarity lookup, not just matching the current prompt in isolation.

from langchain_core.globals import set_llm_cache
from sulci.integrations.langchain import SulciCache

# Stateless semantic — drop-in for GPTCache
set_llm_cache(SulciCache(backend="sqlite"))

# Context-aware — chatbot / agent (+56pp hit rate in customer support)
set_llm_cache(SulciCache(backend="sqlite", context_window=4, threshold=0.75))

# Managed Sulci Cloud
set_llm_cache(SulciCache(backend="sulci", api_key="sk-sulci-..."))

Install: pip install "sulci[sqlite,langchain]"

---

LlamaIndex Integration

SulciCacheLLM is a native LLM-level semantic cache for LlamaIndex with no LangChain dependency required. It wraps any LlamaIndex-compatible LLM (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, HuggingFaceLLM, etc.) — complete() and chat() are cached, streaming passes through uncached, async methods use run_in_executor.

from llama_index.core import Settings
from llama_index.llms.openai import OpenAI
from sulci.integrations.llamaindex import SulciCacheLLM

# Stateless — drop-in for any LlamaIndex LLM
Settings.llm = SulciCacheLLM(
    llm       = OpenAI(model="gpt-4o"),
    backend   = "sqlite",
    threshold = 0.85,
)

# Context-aware — RAG chatbot / agent (+56pp hit rate in customer support)
Settings.llm = SulciCacheLLM(
    llm            = OpenAI(model="gpt-4o"),
    backend        = "sqlite",
    threshold      = 0.75,
    context_window = 4,
)

# Managed Sulci Cloud
Settings.llm = SulciCacheLLM(
    llm     = OpenAI(model="gpt-4o"),
    backend = "sulci",
    api_key = "sk-sulci-...",
)

Install: pip install "sulci[sqlite,llamaindex]"

Via LangChain (alternative — works today, no extra install):

from langchain_core.globals import set_llm_cache
from sulci.integrations.langchain import SulciCache
from llama_index.llms.langchain import LangChainLLM
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI

set_llm_cache(SulciCache(backend="sqlite", context_window=4))

from llama_index.core import Settings
Settings.llm = LangChainLLM(llm=ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o"))

Install: pip install "sulci[sqlite,langchain]" llama-index-llms-langchain langchain-openai

---

AsyncCache — non-blocking async wrapper

AsyncCache wraps sulci.Cache with asyncio.to_thread() so every cache operation yields the event loop. The correct pattern for FastAPI, LangChain async chains, LlamaIndex async agents, and any asyncio-based application.

from sulci import AsyncCache

cache = AsyncCache(backend="sqlite", context_window=4)

# FastAPI endpoint — event loop never blocked
@app.post("/chat")
async def chat(query: str, session_id: str):
    response, sim, depth = await cache.aget(query, session_id=session_id)
    if response:
        return {"response": response, "source": "cache", "sim": sim}
    response = await call_llm(query)
    await cache.aset(query, response, session_id=session_id)
    return {"response": response, "source": "llm"}

# All Cache parameters work identically
cache = AsyncCache(
    backend        = "sqlite",
    threshold      = 0.85,
    context_window = 4,
    query_weight   = 0.70,
    api_key        = "sk-sulci-...",   # for Sulci Cloud
)

Async methods: aget(), aset(), acached_call(), aget_context(), aclear_context(), acontext_summary(), astats(), aclear()

Sync passthrough: All sync methods (get, set, stats, clear) also available — AsyncCache works in mixed sync/async codebases without switching types.

---

Sulci Cloud — zero infrastructure option

Get a free API key at sulci.io/signup and switch to the managed backend with a single parameter change. Everything else stays identical.

# Before — self-hosted (works today)
cache = Cache(backend="sqlite", threshold=0.85)

# After — managed cloud (zero other code changes)
cache = Cache(backend="sulci", api_key="sk-sulci-...", threshold=0.85)

# Or via environment variable — zero code changes at all
# export SULCI_API_KEY=sk-sulci-...
cache = Cache(backend="sulci", threshold=0.85)

Free tier: 50,000 requests/month. No credit card required.

sulci.connect()

For apps that want to set the key once at startup and enable optional telemetry:

import sulci

sulci.connect(
    api_key   = "sk-sulci-...",   # or set SULCI_API_KEY env var
    telemetry = True,             # default True — set False to disable reporting
)

cache = Cache(backend="sulci")    # picks up key from connect() automatically

Telemetry is strictly opt-in. Nothing is sent unless sulci.connect() is called. _telemetry_enabled = False until you explicitly connect. Disable per-instance with Cache(backend="sulci", telemetry=False).

Key resolution order:

1. Explicit api_key= argument to Cache()
2. SULCI_API_KEY environment variable
3. Key stored by a prior sulci.connect() call

---

Quickstart

Stateless (v0.1 style)

from sulci import Cache

cache = Cache(backend="sqlite", threshold=0.85)

# store a response
cache.set("How do I deploy to AWS?", "Use the AWS CLI with 'aws deploy'...")

# exact or semantic hit — returns 3-tuple
response, similarity, context_depth = cache.get("What's the process for deploying on AWS?")

if response:
    print(f"Cache hit (sim={similarity:.2f}): {response}")
else:
    # call your LLM here
    pass

Context-aware (v0.2 style)

from sulci import Cache

cache = Cache(
    backend        = "sqlite",
    threshold      = 0.85,
    context_window = 4,     # remember last 4 turns
    query_weight   = 0.70,  # α — weight of current query vs context
    context_decay  = 0.50,  # halve weight per older turn
)

# turn 1
cache.set("What is Python?", "Python is a high-level programming language.", session_id="s1")

# turn 2 — context from turn 1 blended into the lookup vector
response, sim, depth = cache.get("Tell me more about it", session_id="s1")

Drop-in with cached_call

Requires: pip install "sulci[sqlite]" anthropic

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

import anthropic
from sulci import Cache

cache = Cache(backend="chroma", threshold=0.85)
client = anthropic.Anthropic()

def call_llm(prompt: str) -> str:
    msg = client.messages.create(
        model="claude-haiku-4-5-20251001",
        max_tokens=1024,
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": prompt}]
    )
    return msg.content[0].text

result = cache.cached_call(
    query  = "How do I deploy to AWS?",
    llm_fn = call_llm,
)

print(result["response"])
print(f"Source:  {result['source']}")       # "cache" or "llm"
print(f"Latency: {result['latency_ms']:.1f}ms")

Run it a second time with the same (or similar) question — source switches to "cache" and latency drops from ~2,000ms to under 10ms.

---

API Reference

Constructor

cache = Cache(
    backend         = "sqlite",   # sqlite | chroma | faiss | qdrant | redis | milvus | sulci
    threshold       = 0.85,       # cosine similarity cutoff (0–1)
    embedding_model = "minilm",   # minilm | openai
    ttl_seconds     = None,       # None = no expiry
    personalized    = False,      # partition cache per user_id
    db_path         = "./sulci",  # on-disk path for sqlite / faiss
    context_window  = 0,          # turns to remember; 0 = stateless
    query_weight    = 0.70,       # α in blending formula
    context_decay   = 0.50,       # per-turn decay weight
    session_ttl     = 3600,       # session expiry in seconds
    api_key         = None,       # required when backend="sulci"
    telemetry       = True,       # set False to disable per-instance
)

Methods

Method	Returns	Description
cache.get(query, *, tenant_id=None, user_id=None, session_id=None)	(str|None, float, int)	response, similarity, context_depth (tenant_id added in v0.4.0)
cache.set(query, response, *, tenant_id=None, user_id=None, session_id=None, metadata=None)	None	Store entry, advance context window
cache.cached_call(query, llm_fn, *, tenant_id=None, user_id=None, session_id=None, cost_per_call=0.005)	dict	response, source, similarity, latency_ms, cache_hit, context_depth
cache.get_context(session_id)	ContextWindow	Return session's context window
cache.clear_context(session_id)	None	Reset session history
cache.context_summary(session_id=None)	dict	Snapshot of one or all sessions
cache.stats()	dict	hits, misses, hit_rate, saved_cost, total_queries, active_sessions
cache.clear()	None	Evict all entries, reset stats and sessions

Important: cache.get() returns a 3-tuple (response, similarity, context_depth) — not a 2-tuple like v0.1. Always unpack all three values.

v0.5.0 additions

Two additive constructor kwargs for advanced deployments:

from sulci import Cache, RedisSessionStore, TelemetrySink

cache = Cache(
    backend        = "sqlite",
    context_window = 4,
    session_store  = RedisSessionStore(redis_client),         # horizontal-scale sessions
    event_sink     = TelemetrySink("https://your.endpoint"),  # privacy-firewalled events
)

• session_store= accepts any sulci.sessions.SessionStore impl. Default None uses the legacy in-process manager (unchanged from v0.4.x).
• event_sink= accepts any sulci.sinks.EventSink impl. Default None uses NullSink() (no-op). Shipped sinks (TelemetrySink, RedisStreamSink) enforce a strict field allowlist — query text, response text, and embeddings never leave the process.
• SyncCache is now exported as a naming-symmetric alias for Cache (parallel to AsyncCache).

---

Context-Aware Blending

When context_window > 0, Sulci Cache blends the current query vector with recent conversation history before performing the similarity lookup:

lookup_vec = α · embed(query) + (1−α) · Σ(decay^i · turn_i)

• α = query_weight (default 0.70) — how much the current query dominates
• decay = context_decay (default 0.50) — halves weight per older turn
• Only user query vectors are stored in context (not LLM responses)
• Raw un-blended vectors stored in cache; blending happens at lookup time only

Context-aware benchmark results (800 conversation pairs, context_window=4):

Domain	Stateless	Context-aware	Δ
customer_support	32%	88%	+56pp
developer_qa	80%	96%	+16pp
medical_information	40%	60%	+20pp
overall	64.0%	81.6%	+17.6pp

---

Backends

Backend	ID	Hit latency	Best for
SQLite	sqlite	<8ms	Local dev, edge, serverless, zero infra
ChromaDB	chroma	<10ms	Fastest path to working, Python-native
FAISS	faiss	<3ms	GPU acceleration, massive scale
Qdrant	qdrant	<5ms	Production, metadata filtering
Redis + RedisVL	redis	<1ms	Existing Redis infra, lowest latency
Milvus Lite	milvus	<7ms	Dev-to-prod without code changes
Sulci Cloud	sulci	<8ms	Zero infra — managed service

All self-hosted backends are free tier or self-hostable at zero cost.

---

Embedding Models

ID	Model	Dims	Latency	Notes
minilm	all-MiniLM-L6-v2	384	14ms	Default — free, local, excellent quality
openai	text-embedding-3-small	1536	~100ms	Requires OPENAI_API_KEY

The default minilm model runs entirely locally via sentence-transformers. No network calls are made unless you explicitly configure embedding_model="openai".

---

Project Structure

.
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── LICENSE
├── LOCAL_SETUP.md
├── Makefile                    ← make smoke, make test, make test-all, make verify
├── NOTICE
├── README.md
├── benchmark
│   ├── README.md               ← benchmark methodology and results
│   └── run.py                  ← benchmark CLI (--context for context-aware pass)
├── examples
│   ├── anthropic_example.py    ← Anthropic Claude, context-aware, requires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
│   ├── basic_usage.py          ← stateless cache demo, no API key needed
│   ├── context_aware.py        ← 4-demo walkthrough, fully offline
│   ├── context_aware_example.py← additional context-aware patterns
│   ├── langchain_example.py    ← LangChain integration, OpenAI/Anthropic/mock
│   ├── llamaindex_example.py   ← LlamaIndex integration, OpenAI/Anthropic/mock
│   └── async_example.py        ← AsyncCache demo, OpenAI/Anthropic/mock    (v0.3.7)
├── pyproject.toml              ← name="sulci", version="0.5.0"
├── setup.py
├── setup.sh                    ← one-shot setup: venv + install + smoke tests
├── smoke_test.py               ← core smoke test
├── smoke_test_langchain.py     ← LangChain integration smoke test
├── smoke_test_llamaindex.py    ← LlamaIndex integration smoke test
├── smoke_test_async.py         ← AsyncCache smoke test                     (v0.3.7)
├── sulci
│   ├── __init__.py             ← exports Cache, SyncCache, AsyncCache, ContextWindow,
│   │                              SessionStore (legacy), InMemorySessionStore,
│   │                              RedisSessionStore, EventSink, NullSink,
│   │                              TelemetrySink, RedisStreamSink, CacheEvent, connect()
│   │                              _SDK_VERSION = __version__   # derived from pyproject.toml
│   ├── backends
│   │   ├── __init__.py         ← empty — core.py loads backends via importlib
│   │   ├── chroma.py
│   │   ├── cloud.py            ← SulciCloudBackend (backend="sulci")
│   │   ├── faiss.py
│   │   ├── milvus.py
│   │   ├── qdrant.py
│   │   ├── redis.py
│   │   └── sqlite.py
│   ├── async_cache.py          ← AsyncCache non-blocking wrapper         (v0.3.7)
│   ├── context.py              ← ContextWindow + legacy SessionStore manager
│   ├── core.py                 ← Cache engine + B1 adapter (v0.5.0)
│   │                              telemetry= param, api_key= param,
│   │                              session_store= + event_sink= kwargs (v0.5.0)
│   ├── embeddings
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── minilm.py           ← default: all-MiniLM-L6-v2 (free, local)
│   │   └── openai.py           ← requires OPENAI_API_KEY
│   ├── sessions                ← v0.5.0 — SessionStore protocol package
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── protocol.py         ← public stable SessionStore protocol
│   │   ├── memory.py           ← InMemorySessionStore (default)
│   │   └── redis.py            ← RedisSessionStore (multi-replica)
│   ├── sinks                   ← v0.5.0 — EventSink protocol package
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   ├── protocol.py         ← public stable EventSink + CacheEvent
│   │   ├── null.py             ← NullSink (default no-op)
│   │   ├── telemetry.py        ← TelemetrySink (HTTPS POST, allowlist-scrubbed)
│   │   └── redis_stream.py     ← RedisStreamSink (XADD, allowlist-scrubbed)
│   └── integrations
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── langchain.py        ← SulciCache(BaseCache) for LangChain  (v0.3.3)
│       └── llamaindex.py       ← SulciCacheLLM(LLM) for LlamaIndex    (v0.3.5)
└── tests
    ├── test_backends.py                —   9 tests: per-backend contract + persistence
    ├── test_cloud_backend.py           —  28 tests: SulciCloudBackend + Cache wiring
    ├── test_connect.py                 —  32 tests: sulci.connect(), _emit(), _flush()
    ├── test_context.py                 —  35 tests: ContextWindow, legacy SessionStore
    ├── test_core.py                    —  31 tests: cache.get/set, TTL, stats, personalization, tenant_id
    ├── test_integrations_langchain.py  —  27 tests: SulciCache LangChain adapter
    ├── test_integrations_llamaindex.py —  29 tests: SulciCacheLLM LlamaIndex wrapper
    ├── test_async_cache.py             —  25 tests: AsyncCache non-blocking wrapper       (v0.3.7)
    ├── test_qdrant_tenant_isolation.py —  11 tests: tenant_id partition isolation         (v0.4.0)
    ├── test_sessions.py                —  24 tests: SessionStore protocol + tenant isol.  (v0.5.0)
    ├── test_sinks.py                   —  15 tests: EventSink protocol + privacy allowlist (v0.5.0)
    ├── test_session_store_injection.py —  12 tests: Cache(session_store=, event_sink=)    (v0.5.0)
    └── compat/                         —  Backend + Embedder conformance suites

Plus: sulci/tests/compat/ — SessionStore + EventSink conformance suites (v0.5.0)

---

Running Tests

# full suite — 212 tests total (7 skipped if optional backend deps not installed)
python -m pytest tests/ -v

# by file
python -m pytest tests/test_core.py -v                       # 27 tests
python -m pytest tests/test_context.py -v                    # 35 tests
python -m pytest tests/test_backends.py -v                   #  9 tests (skipped if dep missing)
python -m pytest tests/test_connect.py -v                    # 32 tests — sulci.connect() + telemetry
python -m pytest tests/test_cloud_backend.py -v              # 28 tests — SulciCloudBackend
python -m pytest tests/test_integrations_langchain.py -v     # 27 tests — LangChain integration
python -m pytest tests/test_integrations_llamaindex.py -v    # 29 tests — LlamaIndex integration
python -m pytest tests/test_async_cache.py -v                # 25 tests — AsyncCache wrapper

# single backend only
python -m pytest tests/test_backends.py -v -k sqlite
python -m pytest tests/test_backends.py -v -k chroma

# with coverage
python -m pytest tests/ -v --cov=sulci --cov-report=term-missing

Make targets

make smoke              # all smoke tests (core + LangChain + LlamaIndex)
make smoke-core         # core smoke test only
make smoke-langchain    # LangChain smoke test only
make smoke-llamaindex   # LlamaIndex smoke test only
make smoke-async        # AsyncCache smoke test only
make test               # core pytest suite
make test-integrations  # LangChain + LlamaIndex integration tests
make test-async         # AsyncCache tests only
make test-all           # full suite (212 tests)
make test-cov           # full suite with coverage
make verify             # smoke + test-all (run before committing)

test_connect.py (32 tests) — sulci.connect(), _emit(), _flush(), Cache(telemetry=). Requires httpx.

test_cloud_backend.py (28 tests) — SulciCloudBackend construction, search(), upsert(), delete_user(), clear(), and Cache(backend='sulci') wiring. Requires httpx.

test_integrations_langchain.py (27 tests) — SulciCache(BaseCache) LangChain adapter. Requires langchain-core.

test_integrations_llamaindex.py (29 tests) — SulciCacheLLM(LLM) LlamaIndex wrapper. Requires llama-index-core.

Backend tests are skipped — not failed when their dependency isn't installed. Install the backend extra to run its tests: pip install -e ".[chroma]".

See LOCAL_SETUP.md for the full local development guide including venv setup, backend installation, smoke testing, and troubleshooting.

---

Examples

python examples/basic_usage.py          # stateless cache — no API key needed
python examples/context_aware.py        # context-aware — no API key needed
python examples/anthropic_example.py    # requires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
python examples/langchain_example.py    # OpenAI or Anthropic or mock fallback
python examples/llamaindex_example.py   # OpenAI or Anthropic or mock fallback
python examples/async_example.py        # AsyncCache demo, OpenAI/Anthropic/mock

---

Benchmark

# fast run (~30 seconds)
python benchmark/run.py --no-sweep --queries 1000

# with context-aware pass
python benchmark/run.py --no-sweep --queries 1000 --context

# full benchmark
python benchmark/run.py --context

See benchmark/README.md for full methodology and results.

---

Troubleshooting

ImportError: cannot import name 'HfFolder' from 'huggingface_hub'

Conda environments often have a stale huggingface_hub that conflicts with sentence-transformers. Fix by upgrading all three together:

pip install --upgrade huggingface_hub datasets sentence-transformers

Or use a clean venv (avoids conda transitive dependency conflicts entirely):

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate        # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install "sulci[sqlite]" anthropic
python your_script.py

huggingface/tokenizers: The current process just got forked... warning

Harmless — suppress it with:

export TOKENIZERS_PARALLELISM=false

anthropic.OverloadedError: Error code: 529

Transient API congestion — not a Sulci Cache issue. Wait a moment and retry, or check status.anthropic.com.

zsh: no matches found: sulci[chroma]

Wrap extras in quotes:

pip install "sulci[chroma]"    # ✓
pip install sulci[chroma]      # ✗ — zsh glob expansion breaks this

pytest: command not found

python -m pytest tests/ -v

---

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for branching model, PR process, and coding standards.

---

License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.

Copyright 2026 Kathiravan Sengodan.

U.S. Patent Application No. 64/018,452 (pending) covers the context-aware semantic caching algorithm. Apache 2.0 grants users a royalty-free patent license for use of this code.

---

Links

• Website: sulci.io
• Sign up (free key): sulci.io/signup
• API: api.sulci.io
• PyPI: sulci
• GitHub: sulci-io/sulci-oss
• Issues: github.com/sulci-io/sulci-oss/issues