Essence Coach

Essence Coach is a helpful and informative bot assistant that answers questions related to the Essence standard and software engineering practices.

Set-up

STEP 1: Clone the repository

Clone or download the code from this repository.

Make sure you have Python installed (note: Python 3.13 may be incompatible with some of the required packages, I recommend having installed Python 3.12 or older).

You can check your Python version by running the following command in your terminal:

python --version

STEP 2: Create a virtual environment

Next, you may want to create a virtual Python environment to install the required packages.

To do so, run the following command inside the project's root directory:

python -m venv .venv

STEP 3: Activate the virtual environment

Then, to activate it run this command on macOS/Linux:

source .venv/bin/activate

Or, on Windows:

.venv\Scripts\activate

STEP 4: Install the required packages

Run this command to install the required packages. This step may take a few minutes.

pip install -r requirements.txt

STEP 5: Add the environment variables

From the official Groq website get your own API key and add it to the .env file located in the root directory.

Follow this format:

GROQ_API_KEY="xxxxx"

Optional: create your own cluster in MongoDB to store the chatbot's reponses for later analysis. Add the URI to the .env file following this format:

MONGO_URI="xxxxx"

Run the app

Inside the root directory, run this command to execute the app.

python app.py

The app should now be running on http://127.0.0.1:5000/. You can access it by opening a browser and going to that address.

To stop the app from running simply press Ctrl + C in your terminal.

About the data

This chatbot uses a RAG system to provide accurate responses about the Essence standard.

The following documents are included in the retrieval database.

General documents about the Essence Kernel and Language

These documents contain information about Essence in general, its language and its kernel.

• Kernel_cards.md
• Essence_Explained.md
• Essence_in_a_nutshell.md
• Essence_Kernel.md
• Essence_pocket_guide.md
• Essence_seminar.md
• Smarter_methods_Essentialization.md

Documents about software engineering practices

These documents provide information about different software engineering methods and practices (e.g., Scrum, Retrospectives, etc.).

• Improving_Agile_Retrospectives.md
• Retrospective_practice.md
• Scrum_powered_by_Essence.md
• Use_cases_user_stories.md
• Se_intro.md
• Se_scrum.md
• Se_retrospective.md
• Se_conclusion.md
• Retro_Scrum_cards.md
• Agile_Essence_cards.md

Documents about Essence games

These documents contain instructions to play different Essence games.

• Alpha_State_Card_Games.md
• Team_Status_Game.md
• The_hot_seat.md

Other documents

• Essencery_a_tool.md
• Training_students.md