---
title: Quickstart
slug: /quickstart
---

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import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
import PartialWsl from '@site/docs/_partial-wsl-install.mdx';

Use this quickstart to install OpenRAG, and then try some of OpenRAG's core features.

## Prerequisites

This quickstart requires the following:

- An [OpenAI API key](https://platform.openai.com/api-keys).
This quickstart uses OpenAI for simplicity.
For other providers, see the complete [installation guide](/install).

- [Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3100/) version 3.13 or later.

- Microsoft Windows only: To run OpenRAG on Windows, you must use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

   <details>
   <summary>Install WSL for OpenRAG</summary>

   <PartialWsl />

   </details>


## Install OpenRAG

For this quickstart, install OpenRAG with the automatic installer script and basic setup:

1. Create a directory to store the OpenRAG configuration files, and then change to that directory:

   ```bash
   mkdir openrag-workspace
   cd openrag-workspace
   ```

2. [Download the OpenRAG install script](https://docs.openr.ag/files/run_openrag_with_prereqs.sh), move it to your OpenRAG directory, and then run it:

   ```bash
   bash run_openrag_with_prereqs.sh
   ```

   This script installs OpenRAG and its dependencies, including Docker or Podman, and it creates a `.env` file and `docker-compose` files in the current working directory.
   You might be prompted to install certain dependencies if they aren't already present in your environment.
   This process can take a few minutes.
   Once the environment is ready, OpenRAG starts.

3. Click **Basic Setup**.

4. Create passwords for your OpenRAG installation's OpenSearch and Langflow services. You can click **Generate Passwords** to automatically generate passwords.

   The OpenSearch password is required. The Langflow admin password is optional.
   If you don't generate a Langflow admin password, Langflow runs in [autologin mode](https://docs.langflow.org/api-keys-and-authentication#langflow-auto-login) with no password required.

   Your passwords are saved in the `.env` file that is used to start OpenRAG.
   You can find this file in your OpenRAG installation directory.

5. Click **Save Configuration**, and then click **Start All Services**.

   Wait a few minutes while the startup process pulls and runs the necessary container images.
   Proceed when you see the following messages in the terminal user interface (TUI):

   ```bash
   Services started successfully
   Command completed successfully
   ```

6. To open the OpenRAG application, go to the TUI main menu, and then click **Open App**.
Alternatively, in your browser, navigate to `localhost:3000`.

7. Select the **OpenAI** model provider, enter your OpenAI API key, and then click **Complete**.

   For this quickstart, you can use the default options for the model settings.

8. Click through the overview slides for a brief introduction to OpenRAG and basic setup, or click <Icon name="ArrowRight" aria-hidden="true"/> **Skip overview**.
You can complete this quickstart without going through the overview.

## Load and chat with documents {#chat-with-documents}

OpenRAG's knowledge base chat is powered by the [OpenRAG OpenSearch Agent](/agents).
Some documents are included by default to get you started, and you can load your own documents.

1. In OpenRAG, click <Icon name="MessageSquare" aria-hidden="true"/> **Chat**.

2. For this quickstart, ask the agent what documents are available.
For example: `What documents are available to you?`

   The agent responds with a summary of OpenRAG's default documents.

3. To verify the agent's response, click <Icon name="Library" aria-hidden="true"/> **Knowledge** to view the documents stored in the OpenRAG OpenSearch vector database.
You can click a document to view the chunks of the document as they are stored in the database.

4. Click **Add Knowledge** to add your own documents to your OpenRAG knowledge base.

   For this quickstart, use either the <Icon name="File" aria-hidden="true"/> **File** or <Icon name="Folder" aria-hidden="true"/> **Folder** upload options to load documents from your local machine.
   **Folder** uploads an entire directory.
   The default directory is the `/documents` subdirectory in your OpenRAG installation directory.

   For information about the cloud storage provider options, see [Ingest files through OAuth connectors](/knowledge#oauth-ingestion).

5. Return to the **Chat** window, and then ask a question related to the documents that you just uploaded.

   If the agent's response doesn't seem to reference your documents correctly, try the following:

   * Click <Icon name="Gear" aria-hidden="true"/> **Function Call: search_documents (tool_call)** to view the log of tool calls made by the agent. This is helpful for troubleshooting because it shows you how the agent used particular tools.

   * Click <Icon name="Library" aria-hidden="true"/> **Knowledge** to confirm that the documents are present in the OpenRAG OpenSearch vector database, and then click each document to see how the document was chunked.
   If a document was chunked improperly, you might need to tweak the ingestion or modify and reupload the document.

   * Click <Icon name="Settings2" aria-hidden="true"/> **Settings** to modify the knowledge ingestion settings.

   For more information about knowledge bases and knowledge ingestion, see [OpenSearch in OpenRAG](/knowledge).

## Change the language model and chat settings {#change-components}

1. To change the knowledge ingestion settings, agent behavior, or language model, click <Icon name="Settings2" aria-hidden="true"/> **Settings**.

   The **Settings** page provides quick access to commonly used parameters like the **Language model** and **Agent Instructions**.

2. For greater insight into the underlying [Langflow flow](/agents) that drives the OpenRAG chat, click **Edit in Langflow** and then click **Proceed** to launch the Langflow visual editor in a new browser window.

   If Langflow requests login information, enter the `LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER` and `LANGFLOW_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD` from the `.env` file in your OpenRAG installation directory.

   The OpenRAG OpenSearch Agent flow opens in a new browser window.

   ![OpenRAG OpenSearch Agent flow](/img/opensearch-agent-flow.png)

3. For this quickstart, try changing the model.
Click the **Language Model** component, and then change the **Model Name** to a different OpenAI model.

   When editing built-in flows, you can click **Restore flow** to revert the flow to its initial state.

4. Press <kbd>Command</kbd>+<kbd>S</kbd> (<kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>S</kbd>) to save your changes.

   You can close the Langflow browser window, or leave it open if you want to continue experimenting with the flow editor.

5. Switch to your OpenRAG browser window, and then click <Icon name="Plus" aria-hidden="true"/> in the **Conversations** tab to start a new conversation.
This ensures that the chat doesn't persist any context from the previous conversation with the original model.

6. Ask the same question you asked in [Load and chat with documents](#chat-with-documents) to see how the response differs from the original model.

## Integrate OpenRAG into an application

Langflow in OpenRAG includes pre-built flows that you can integrate into your applications using the [Langflow API](https://docs.langflow.org/api-reference-api-examples).
You can use these flows as-is or modify them to better suit your needs, as demonstrated in [Change the language model and chat settings](#change-components).

You can send and receive requests with the Langflow API using Python, TypeScript, or curl.

1. Open the OpenRAG OpenSearch Agent flow in the Langflow visual editor: From the **Chat** window, click <Icon name="Settings2" aria-hidden="true"/> **Settings**, click **Edit in Langflow**, and then click **Proceed**.

2. Create a [Langflow API key](https://docs.langflow.org/api-keys-and-authentication), which is a user-specific token required to send requests to the Langflow server.
This key doesn't grant access to OpenRAG.

   1. In the Langflow visual editor, click your user icon in the header, and then select **Settings**.
   2. Click **Langflow API Keys**, and then click <Icon name="Plus" aria-hidden="true"/> **Add New**.
   3. Name your key, and then click **Create API Key**.
   4. Copy the API key and store it securely.
   5. Exit the Langflow **Settings** page to return to the visual editor.

3. Click **Share**, and then select **API access** to get pregenerated code snippets that call the Langflow API and run the flow.

   These code snippets construct API requests with your Langflow server URL (`LANGFLOW_SERVER_ADDRESS`), the flow to run (`FLOW_ID`), required headers (`LANGFLOW_API_KEY`, `Content-Type`), and a payload containing the required inputs to run the flow, including a default chat input message.

   In production, you would modify the inputs to suit your application logic. For example, you could replace the default chat input message with dynamic user input.

   <Tabs>
   <TabItem value="python" label="Python">

   ```python
   import requests
   import os
   import uuid

   api_key = 'LANGFLOW_API_KEY'
   url = "http://LANGFLOW_SERVER_ADDRESS/api/v1/run/FLOW_ID"  # The complete API endpoint URL for this flow

   # Request payload configuration
   payload = {
       "output_type": "chat",
       "input_type": "chat",
       "input_value": "hello world!"
   }
   payload["session_id"] = str(uuid.uuid4())

   headers = {"x-api-key": api_key}

   try:
       # Send API request
       response = requests.request("POST", url, json=payload, headers=headers)
       response.raise_for_status()  # Raise exception for bad status codes

       # Print response
       print(response.text)

   except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
       print(f"Error making API request: {e}")
   except ValueError as e:
       print(f"Error parsing response: {e}")
   ```

   </TabItem>
   <TabItem value="typescript" label="TypeScript">

   ```typescript
   const crypto = require('crypto');
   const apiKey = 'LANGFLOW_API_KEY';
   const payload = {
       "output_type": "chat",
       "input_type": "chat",
       "input_value": "hello world!"
   };
   payload.session_id = crypto.randomUUID();

   const options = {
       method: 'POST',
       headers: {
           'Content-Type': 'application/json',
           "x-api-key": apiKey
       },
       body: JSON.stringify(payload)
   };

   fetch('http://LANGFLOW_SERVER_ADDRESS/api/v1/run/FLOW_ID', options)
       .then(response => response.json())
       .then(response => console.warn(response))
       .catch(err => console.error(err));
   ```

   </TabItem>
   <TabItem value="curl" label="curl">

   ```bash
   curl --request POST \
     --url 'http://LANGFLOW_SERVER_ADDRESS/api/v1/run/FLOW_ID?stream=false' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --header "x-api-key: LANGFLOW_API_KEY" \
     --data '{
       "output_type": "chat",
       "input_type": "chat",
       "input_value": "hello world!"
     }'
   ```

   </TabItem>
   </Tabs>

4. Copy your preferred snippet, and then run it:

   * **Python**: Paste the snippet into a `.py` file, save it, and then run it with `python filename.py`.
   * **TypeScript**: Paste the snippet into a `.ts` file, save it, and then run it with `ts-node filename.ts`.
   * **curl**: Paste and run snippet directly in your terminal.

If the request is successful, the response includes many details about the flow run, including the session ID, inputs, outputs, components, durations, and more.

In production, you won't pass the raw response to the user in its entirety.
Instead, you extract and reformat relevant fields for different use cases, as demonstrated in the [Langflow quickstart](https://docs.langflow.org/quickstart#extract-data-from-the-response).
For example, you could pass the chat output text to a front-end user-facing application, and store specific fields in logs and backend data stores for monitoring, chat history, or analytics.
You could also pass the output from one flow as input to another flow.

## Next steps

* **Reinstall OpenRAG with your preferred settings**: This quickstart used a minimal setup to demonstrate OpenRAG's core functionality.
It is recommended that you reinstall OpenRAG with your preferred configuration because some settings are immutable after initial setup.
For all installation options, see [Install OpenRAG with TUI](/install) and [Install OpenRAG with containers](/docker).

* **Learn more about OpenRAG**: Explore OpenRAG and the OpenRAG documentation to learn more about its features and functionality.

* **Learn more about Langflow**: For a deep dive on the Langflow API and visual editor, see the [Langflow documentation](https://docs.langflow.org/).