Cheshire Cat: Build Your Personal AI Assistant in Wonderland

Since the beginning, the "chatgpt revolution" sparked my quest to better understand what the hell was going on with AI.. Like many others, I was completely unaware of LLMs and all the likes.

At a certain point, I came across Piero Savastano, an expert on the subject in my linkedin network. That's when I discovered he was on a mission to help me figure out how to build my own AI assistant.

Yes, because I'm against the idea to share my life's details with tech companies I don't trust.

Meet my friend, the Cheshire Cat: an open source framework for building your own AI assistant

The Cheshire Cat makes customized AI assistants easy, powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-3, ChatGPT, Cohere, and models from HuggingFace and Azure.

According to Piero, the goal is simple:

anyone should be able to use their own AI assistant on their own terms.

That's why the Cat is released under a GPLv3 license.

While still evolving, the Cheshire Cat shows a lot of promise! With a framework this straightforward to use yet flexible, the Cat could change how people create and implement specialized AI tools.

Key Features: what exactly does this quirky Cat do?

The Cheshire Cat framework, available at https://github.com/pieroit/cheshire-cat, has superpowers:  

• a long-term memory to provide context for ongoing conversations,
• the ability to ingest all sorts of documents and data to enhance knowledge,
• a plug-and-play design that can incorporate external tools, like APIs, custom Python code, and many of the available LLMs out there,
• plugins that allow endless customization options,
• seamless integration, with everything neatly dockerized.

Use cases and examples: what people use the Cat for..

While the Cat is still young, here are some use cases from the community:

• AI research assistant to query PubMed
• Ask the cat waiting times for buses arriving to a specific bus stop
• Conversation with PDFs
• Siri - Cheshire Cat integration
• A Rest API bridge to Cheshire Cat Websocket PoC

Have more use cases you are dealing with using the Cat? Leave a comment!! 😁

Getting started with the Cheshire Cat

Just follow the instructions at https://pieroit.github.io/cheshire-cat/getting-started/. In a few simple steps, you'll have your own AI assistant up and running.

Want more? have a read at Nicola Corbellini's intro and tutorial to the Cat.

Don't forget to join the Cheshire Cat community on Discord.

Welcome to Wonderland

While still evolving, the possibilities seem vast. Researchers, developers, and businesses seeking to build customized AI applications should consider giving the Cheshire Cat a look under its fuzzy hat.  

But be careful...this Cat has a playful side and may lead you down someunexpected rabbit holes! 😸

Whether it’s more mishaps or magic remains to be seen. For now, the Cheshire Cat seems delighted to simply chat.

What's your take? Comment below!