🧠 AI Chatbot with Flask & OpenRouter – Technical Documentation

🧩 Current State Gap Identification

Despite the growing presence of AI chat systems, many fail to offer seamless integration between frontend interfaces and powerful language models. Real-time responsiveness, accessibility through speech, and modern user-friendly interfaces are often lacking.

❓ Problem Definition

The goal of this project is to create a web-based AI chatbot that combines a powerful LLM (Mistral 7B via OpenRouter) with an interactive frontend. The chatbot should:

• Accept and respond to user input in real time.
• Offer speech input/output options.
• Support dark mode for better UX.
• Be easily deployable and customizable for different use cases.

⚠️ Limitations Discussion

• 💬 No long-term memory – the chatbot does not store context beyond single user inputs.
• 🌐 Dependent on external API – Requires stable internet and functioning OpenRouter access.
• 🔊 Browser compatibility – Speech APIs may not work on all browsers or devices.
• 🔐 Security – No user authentication included.

🚀 Performance Characteristics and Requirements

🔧 Maintenance and Support Status

• This is a self-hosted demo project, designed for educational and prototype use.
• Maintenance includes periodic updates to:
  • Mistral/OpenRouter integration (if API changes)
  • Frontend compatibility across browsers
  • Flask dependency updates

🌐 Access and Availability Status

• Available as open-source
• Can be hosted:
  • Locally (python app.py)
  • On platforms like Heroku, Render, or PythonAnywhere
• Use Ngrok for secure public tunneling to localhost

📧 Contact Information of Asset Creators

• Name: Sanduni Vihara Walage
• GitHub: https://github.com/sandu20021111
• Email: sandunivihara228@gmail.com

🎥 Visual Tool Demonstration

Below is a visual demonstration of how the chatbot works:

📷 Chat UI Preview