🧓💬 CatBot - Tech Helper for Elderly (FastAPI + Gemini) (Backend Api)

Welcome to CatBot, a friendly AI assistant built with FastAPI and powered by Google Gemini. Designed to patiently assist elderly users with tech problems, CatBot focuses on simplicity, clarity, and user comfort — no technical jargon, no command-line magic. Just helpful answers. 🧡

---

✨ Features

• 🤖 Natural language support via Gemini 2.5 Flash
• 💾 Loads API key securely via .env
• 🧠 Remembers conversation context (previous messages)
• 🧓 Tailored responses for elderly/non-tech-savvy users
• 🔧 Simple steps for common tasks like formatting pendrives, using browsers, etc.
• ⚡ Built with FastAPI for speed and flexibility

---

📁 Project Structure

catbot/
├── main.py                 # FastAPI app
├── model.py                # Pydantic model for message handling
├── generate.py             # Gemini content generation logic
├── .env                    # Securely store your Gemini API Key
└── README.md               # You're reading it!

---

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/catbot.git
cd catbot

2. Create and Activate a Virtual Environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set Up .env

Create a .env file in the root directory:

GEMINI_API_KEY=your_google_gemini_api_key

5. Run the FastAPI Server

uvicorn main:app --reload

---

📬 API Usage

Endpoint: POST /send_msg

Request Body:

{
  "role": "User",
  "message": "Yes I have backed up and am sure I have a Windows 11 PC",
  "context": [
    {"user": "Help me format my pendrive"},
    {"model": "Is the pendrive connected to your computer?"},
    {"user": "yes now what"},
    {"model": "Are you using Windows or Mac?"}
  ]
}

Response:

{
  "response": [
    {
      "text": "Okay, perfect! Here are the steps to format your pendrive on Windows 11..."
    }
  ]
}

---

💡 Developer Notes

• Add context in a clean, sequential format
• The system prompt is tailored specifically for non-technical elderly users
• Use .encode().decode('unicode_escape') to clean Gemini's response output
• Easy to customize and extend (e.g., for new devices or platforms)

---

🛠 Built With

• 🐍 Python 3.10+
• ⚡ FastAPI
• 🌐 Google Gemini API
• 🔐 python-dotenv
• 📦 Pydantic

---

🙏 Special Thanks

To all the grandparents, parents, and elders who strive to adapt to the digital age — this one's for you. ❤️

---

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

---

👨‍💻 Author

Agnik Roy
📍 India
🔗 GitHub | 🐦 Twitter