RLM Knowledge Client

A portable Python package for querying local document knowledge bases using the Recursive Language Model (RLM) pattern with IBM WatsonX as the LLM backend.

Overview

This package allows you to:

1. Index a directory of documents - including PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, and all text files
2. Query the knowledge base - using natural language questions
3. Get AI-synthesized answers - based on relevant document content

The key innovation is the RLM pattern: instead of dumping all documents into the context (which fails for large knowledge bases), the LLM writes Python code to explore the documents on-demand, searching and reading only what's needed.

Installation

# From source
pip install -e /path/to/watsonx_rlm_knowledge

# Or install directly
pip install watsonx-rlm-knowledge

Quick Start

1. Set Environment Variables

export WATSONX_API_KEY="your-ibm-cloud-api-key"
export WATSONX_PROJECT_ID="your-watsonx-project-id"
export RLM_KNOWLEDGE_ROOT="/path/to/your/documents"

# Optional
export WATSONX_REGION_URL="https://us-south.ml.cloud.ibm.com"  # default
export WATSONX_MODEL_ID="openai/gpt-oss-120b"  # default

2. Use the Client

from watsonx_rlm_knowledge import KnowledgeClient

# Initialize client (preprocesses documents automatically)
client = KnowledgeClient.from_directory("/path/to/documents")

# Query the knowledge base
answer = client.query("How does the authentication system work?")
print(answer)

# Get detailed results
result = client.query_detailed("Explain the database schema")
print(f"Answer: {result.answer}")
print(f"Iterations: {result.iterations}")
print(f"Time: {result.total_time:.2f}s")

3. Or Use the CLI

# Query
watsonx-rlm-knowledge query "How does authentication work?"

# Interactive chat
watsonx-rlm-knowledge chat

# List documents
watsonx-rlm-knowledge list

# Search
watsonx-rlm-knowledge search "authentication"

# Statistics
watsonx-rlm-knowledge stats

Supported Document Formats

Text Files (read directly)

• Code: .py, .js, .ts, .java, .c, .cpp, .go, .rs, .rb, etc.
• Config: .json, .yaml, .toml, .xml, .ini, etc.
• Documentation: .md, .txt, .rst, .tex, etc.
• Web: .html, .css, .vue, .svelte, etc.
• Data: .csv, .sql, .graphql, etc.

Binary Documents (converted to text)

• PDF: .pdf
• Word: .docx, .doc
• Excel: .xlsx, .xls
• PowerPoint: .pptx, .ppt
• Other: .rtf, .odt, .ods, .odp

Optional Dependencies

Some document types require additional packages:

# For encrypted/password-protected PDFs
pip install cryptography>=3.1

# For legacy Excel .xls files (not .xlsx)
pip install xlrd

Without these packages, the affected files will be skipped during preprocessing with a warning message.

How It Works

The RLM Pattern

Traditional RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has limitations:

• Embedding search may miss relevant content
• Context windows can't hold large documents
• Pre-chunking loses document structure

RLM (Recursive Language Model) takes a different approach:

1. The LLM is given access to a KnowledgeContext object
2. It writes Python code to explore documents
3. Code is executed and results fed back
4. The LLM iterates until it has enough information
5. Finally outputs a FINAL_ANSWER

User Query → LLM writes Python → Execute → Results → LLM writes more Python → ... → FINAL_ANSWER

Example RLM Iteration

# LLM writes this code:
matches = knowledge.search("authentication")
obs = f"Found {len(matches)} matches for 'authentication':\n"
for m in matches[:5]:
    obs += f"  {m.path}:{m.line_number}: {m.line_text}\n"

# Results fed back:
# "Found 12 matches for 'authentication':
#   auth/login.py:45: def authenticate_user(username, password):
#   docs/api.md:23: ## Authentication Methods
#   ..."

# LLM then reads the relevant file:
content = knowledge.read_slice("auth/login.py", offset=0, nbytes=5000)
obs = content

# And continues until it can answer the question

API Reference

KnowledgeClient

The main interface for querying knowledge bases.

# Factory methods
client = KnowledgeClient.from_directory("/path/to/docs")
client = KnowledgeClient.from_credentials(
    knowledge_root="/path/to/docs",
    api_key="your-key",
    project_id="your-project"
)
client = KnowledgeClient.from_env()

# Query methods
answer = client.query("question")
result = client.query_detailed("question")  # Returns RLMResult

# Utility methods
docs = client.list_documents(pattern="*.pdf")
results = client.search("term", max_results=20)
content = client.read_document("path/to/doc.md")
stats = client.get_stats()
client.preprocess(force=True)

KnowledgeContext

Low-level access to the knowledge base (used by the RLM engine).

from watsonx_rlm_knowledge import KnowledgeContext

ctx = KnowledgeContext("/path/to/docs")

# List documents
docs = ctx.list_documents()
files = ctx.list_files()

# Search
matches = ctx.search("term", max_matches=50)
matches = ctx.grep("pattern")
matches = ctx.search_regex(r"auth\w+")

# Read content
text = ctx.head("doc.md", nbytes=5000)
text = ctx.read_slice("doc.md", offset=1000, nbytes=3000)
text = ctx.read_full("doc.md")
text = ctx.tail("doc.md")

# Document info
toc = ctx.get_table_of_contents("doc.md")
count = ctx.count_occurrences("authentication")

RLMEngine

The core engine that runs the RLM loop.

from watsonx_rlm_knowledge import RLMEngine, KnowledgeContext
from watsonx_rlm_knowledge.engine import RLMConfig

# Custom configuration
config = RLMConfig(
    max_iterations=15,      # Max exploration iterations
    max_code_retries=3,     # Retries for code errors
    temperature=0.1,        # LLM temperature
    main_max_tokens=4096,   # Max tokens for main calls
    subcall_max_tokens=2048 # Max tokens for subcalls
)

# Create engine
engine = RLMEngine(
    knowledge=ctx,
    llm_call_fn=your_llm_function,
    config=config
)

# Run query
result = engine.run("Your question here")
print(result.answer)
print(result.iterations)
print(result.observations)

DocumentPreprocessor

Handles conversion of binary documents to text.

from watsonx_rlm_knowledge import DocumentPreprocessor
from watsonx_rlm_knowledge.preprocessor import PreprocessorConfig

config = PreprocessorConfig(
    cache_dir=".rlm_cache",
    max_file_size_mb=50,
    skip_hidden=True,
    skip_dirs=(".git", "node_modules", "__pycache__")
)

preprocessor = DocumentPreprocessor("/path/to/docs", config)
preprocessor.preprocess_all(force=False)

# Get text content
text = preprocessor.get_text("/path/to/docs/report.pdf")

Configuration

WatsonX Configuration

from watsonx_rlm_knowledge import WatsonXConfig

config = WatsonXConfig(
    api_key="your-key",
    project_id="your-project",
    url="https://us-south.ml.cloud.ibm.com",
    model_id="openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    max_tokens=8192,
    temperature=0.1,
    reasoning_effort="low"
)

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
WATSONX_API_KEY	IBM Cloud API key	(required)
WATSONX_PROJECT_ID	WatsonX project ID	(required)
WATSONX_REGION_URL	WatsonX region URL	https://us-south.ml.cloud.ibm.com
WATSONX_MODEL_ID	Model ID	openai/gpt-oss-120b
RLM_KNOWLEDGE_ROOT	Default knowledge directory	(none)

CLI Reference

# Query the knowledge base
watsonx-rlm-knowledge query "Your question here"
watsonx-rlm-knowledge query "Your question" --detailed

# Interactive chat mode
watsonx-rlm-knowledge chat

# List documents
watsonx-rlm-knowledge list
watsonx-rlm-knowledge list --pattern "*.pdf"
watsonx-rlm-knowledge list --json

# Search documents
watsonx-rlm-knowledge search "term"
watsonx-rlm-knowledge search "term" --max-results 50

# Preprocess documents
watsonx-rlm-knowledge preprocess
watsonx-rlm-knowledge preprocess --force

# Show statistics
watsonx-rlm-knowledge stats
watsonx-rlm-knowledge stats --json

# Read a document
watsonx-rlm-knowledge read "path/to/doc.md"
watsonx-rlm-knowledge read "path/to/doc.md" --max-bytes 10000

# Global options
watsonx-rlm-knowledge --knowledge-root /path/to/docs query "question"
watsonx-rlm-knowledge --verbose query "question"

Example Use Cases

Code Documentation Q&A

client = KnowledgeClient.from_directory("./my-project")
answer = client.query("How do I configure the database connection?")

Research Paper Analysis

client = KnowledgeClient.from_directory("./papers")
answer = client.query("What are the main findings about transformer architectures?")

Policy Document Search

client = KnowledgeClient.from_directory("./policies")
answer = client.query("What is the vacation policy for remote employees?")

Troubleshooting

"WatsonX credentials not found"

Ensure you've set WATSONX_API_KEY and WATSONX_PROJECT_ID environment variables.

"Model returned thinking-only response"

The client automatically retries, but if this persists, try:

• Setting reasoning_effort="low" in WatsonXConfig
• Simplifying your query

Slow preprocessing

Large PDFs or many documents take time. Progress is cached, so subsequent runs are faster.

Document not found

Ensure the path is relative to your knowledge root, not absolute.

License

MIT License

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or PR.