Deployment

Docker is the recommended way to deploy AITA in production.

Dockerfile

FROM python:3.11-slim

WORKDIR /app

COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

COPY config.py main.py ./
COPY client_secret*.json* ./
COPY faiss_db/ ./faiss_db/
COPY course_materials/ ./course_materials/

RUN mkdir -p /app/data
RUN mkdir -p /root/.streamlit
RUN echo '[server]\nheadless = true\nport = 8501\nenableCORS = false\n\
enableXsrfProtection = false\n\n[browser]\ngatherUsageStats = false' \
> /root/.streamlit/config.toml

EXPOSE 8501
ENTRYPOINT ["streamlit", "run", "main.py", \
            "--server.port=8501", "--server.address=0.0.0.0"]

docker-compose.yml

services:
  aita:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8501:8501"
    env_file:
      - .env
    volumes:
      - /path/to/persistent/data:/app/data
    restart: unless-stopped

The volume mount ensures the SQLite database (interaction logs, feedback) and config overrides persist across container rebuilds.

Build and Run

# Build the image
docker compose build

# Start in background
docker compose up -d

# View logs
docker compose logs -f

# Rebuild after changes
docker compose build --no-cache
docker compose up -d

Custom Port

To expose on a different port (e.g., 30002):

services:
  aita:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "30002:8501"

Then set GOOGLE_REDIRECT_URI=http://your-server:30002 in .env and update the redirect URI in Google Cloud Console.

Data Persistence

The /app/data volume stores:

aita.db — SQLite database with interaction logs, feedback, and feature requests
config_overrides.json — Admin-modified course settings

Always mount this as a Docker volume to preserve data across rebuilds.

Updating aita-core

To update the core package inside Docker:

Update requirements.txt to the new version (e.g., aita-core>=0.4.0)
Rebuild: docker compose build --no-cache
Restart: docker compose up -d

Cost Estimate

Using GPT-4o-mini (default), estimated cost is under $20/semester for a class of 80 students with heavy usage. See OpenAI pricing for current rates.