Practical overview
When it fits
Use it when you want a codebase and learning roadmap for building a document-based RAG application, or need a documented starting point for running its API and database locally.
Who it is for
- Developers learning to build a full-stack RAG application.
- Teams or individual developers exploring a self-hosted document-question-answering prototype.
- Java backend engineers interested in a practical path into Python, FastAPI, and AI application development.
Documented uses
- Ingest PDF, Markdown, TXT, and HTML documents into a retrieval pipeline.
- Ask questions against an ingested document collection and return answers with source citations.
- Explore how embeddings, pgvector search, and an LLM fit into a web application.
- Run the documented backend and PostgreSQL-plus-pgvector setup locally.
Requirements & limits
The repository is public and identifies its license as MIT. Its Quick Start describes a local setup; no hosted service is described.
- The described document extractors cover PDF, Markdown, TXT, and HTML.
- PostgreSQL handles metadata and pgvector stores embeddings for vector search.
- The design names Claude and GPT as LLM API integrations; support for other providers is not specified.
- The README marks the full-stack Docker deployment and later optimization work as roadmap items, distinct from the documented local database and API setup.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Set up and start the backend API locally
Start PostgreSQL with pgvector and run the FastAPI backend using the repository’s documented Quick Start.
Before you start
- A local environment with Python 3.11+ and uv installed.
- Docker Compose to start PostgreSQL with pgvector.
- A copy of the repository and its .env.example file.
Steps
Clone the repository and change into its directory.
Copy .env.example to .env.
Run docker compose up -d to start PostgreSQL with pgvector.
Run uv sync to install dependencies, then start the API with uv run uvicorn backend.api.main:app --reload.
Expected outcome
The FastAPI backend starts locally; its interactive API documentation is listed at http://localhost:8000/docs.
Guide limitations
- This procedure starts the database and backend API only; the full-stack Docker setup for the backend and frontend is listed as planned work.
- The guide documents setup and API startup, not a complete end-to-end document-question-answering workflow.
Compare options for Vector search
These projects document a common task and share a project role. This is a source-based comparison, not an execution benchmark or a guarantee of interchangeability.
| Project | Documented purpose | Platform | Access and requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero To AI Fullstack | Ingest PDF, Markdown, TXT, and HTML documents into a retrieval pipeline. | Cloud, Docker, Self-hosted, Server | The repository is public and identifies its license as MIT. Its Quick Start describes a local setup; no hosted service is described. |
| Chatbot with PDF for Semantic Search | Prepare document content as embeddings and save it to a supported vector database. | Web | The repository is identified as open source and publicly visible on GitHub. |
| AI LLM Playground | Ask questions about PDF documents through an assistant interface. | Web |
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 12 October 2026
- Original website title
- yanhua1010/zero-to-ai-fullstack · Official homepage title · retained in its source language

