ChatAuto

ChatAuto(system_prompt=None, turns=None, *, provider=None, model=None, **kwargs)

Use environment variables (env vars) to configure the Chat provider and model.

Creates a :class:~chatlas.Chat instance based on the specified provider. The provider may be specified through the provider parameter and/or the CHATLAS_CHAT_PROVIDER env var. If both are set, the env var takes precedence. Similarly, the provider’s model may be specified through the model parameter and/or the CHATLAS_CHAT_MODEL env var. Also, additional configuration may be provided through the kwargs parameter and/or the CHATLAS_CHAT_ARGS env var (as a JSON string). In this case, when both are set, they are merged, with the env var arguments taking precedence.

As a result, ChatAuto() provides a convenient way to set a default provider and model in your Python code, while allowing you to override these settings through env vars (i.e., without modifying your code).

Prerequisites

API key

Follow the instructions for the specific provider to obtain an API key.

Python requirements

Follow the instructions for the specific provider to install the required Python packages.

Examples

First, set the environment variables for the provider, arguments, and API key:

export CHATLAS_CHAT_PROVIDER=anthropic
export CHATLAS_CHAT_MODEL=claude-3-haiku-20240229
export CHATLAS_CHAT_ARGS='{"kwargs": {"max_retries": 3}}'
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key

Then, you can use the ChatAuto function to create a Chat instance:

from chatlas import ChatAuto

chat = ChatAuto()
chat.chat("What is the capital of France?")

Parameters

Name	Type	Description	Default
provider	Optional[AutoProviders]	The name of the default chat provider to use. Providers are strings formatted in kebab-case, e.g. to use ChatBedrockAnthropic set provider="bedrock-anthropic". This value can also be provided via the CHATLAS_CHAT_PROVIDER environment variable, which takes precedence over provider when set.	None
model	Optional[str]	The name of the default model to use. This value can also be provided via the CHATLAS_CHAT_MODEL environment variable, which takes precedence over model when set.	None
system_prompt	Optional[str]	A system prompt to set the behavior of the assistant.	None
turns	Optional[list[Turn]]	A list of turns to start the chat with (i.e., continuing a previous conversation). If not provided, the conversation begins from scratch. Do not provide non-None values for both turns and system_prompt. Each message in the list should be a dictionary with at least role (usually system, user, or assistant, but tool is also possible). Normally there is also a content field, which is a string.	None
**kwargs		Additional keyword arguments to pass to the Chat constructor. See the documentation for each provider for more details on the available options. These arguments can also be provided via the CHATLAS_CHAT_ARGS environment variable as a JSON string. When provided, the options in the CHATLAS_CHAT_ARGS envvar take precedence over the options passed to kwargs. Note that system_prompt and turns in kwargs or in CHATLAS_CHAT_ARGS are ignored.	{}

Returns

Name	Type	Description
	Chat	A chat instance using the specified provider.

Raises

Name	Type	Description
	ValueError	If no valid provider is specified either through parameters or environment variables.