Overview

This application provides a Flask-based API that can be run locally or deployed in a Google Cloud environment. Below are step-by-step instructions on installing dependencies, configuring Google Cloud, running the application, and testing the API locally.

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Prerequisites

1. Python 3 (for running the Flask application)
2. Google Cloud SDK (for Google Cloud integration)
3. curl (for API testing)

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Running the Application Locally

1. Clone or open the repository.
2. Ensure you have installed Python dependencies (if applicable, use pip install -r requirements.txt).
3. Run the application:

python main.py

This starts the application at http://localhost:8000.

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Installing Google Cloud SDK

Use the steps below on a Linux x86_64 machine:

curl -O https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar -xf google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh

Opt Yes to add sdk path to rc and Open a new terminal shell

Initialize the SDK:

gcloud init

Follow the prompts to choose your Google Cloud project and configure default settings.

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Authenticating with Google Cloud

Authenticate using Application Default Credentials:

gcloud auth application-default login

Follow the sign-in process in your browser, and your credentials will be saved locally.

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Granting Permissions to the Service Account

You may need to grant specific permissions, for example:

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding law-ai-437009 \
--member=serviceAccount:[email protected] \
--role=roles/cloudbuild.builds.builder

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Region and Zone Configuration

Set your preferred default compute region and zone:

gcloud config set compute/zone asia-south1-a
gcloud config set compute/region asia-south1

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Testing the API Locally

Once the app is running on http://localhost:8080, you can test an endpoint with curl, for example:

curl --location 'http://localhost:8080/ask' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{"question":"What are the rights I have as a citizen of India?"}'

You should receive a JSON response containing the answer from your service.

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Additional Notes

• Check the generated .boto file if you plan to interact with Google Cloud Storage.
• Your credentials are stored at ~/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json.
• Ensure you have billing enabled on the selected project if you use any paid Google Cloud services.

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