HiRank (RankRoute)

HiRank is an AI-powered college admission counseling platform. It leverages an intelligent backend system connected to vector databases, live statistics, and LLMs to provide students with personalized predictions and guidance for entrance exams (JEE Main, JEE Advanced, NEET, CEE).

The platform features a modern, responsive web interface, a robust FastAPI backend, intelligent data ingestion pipelines, and comprehensive administrative analytics.

🚀 Key Features

• AI-Powered Admissions Counselor: Context-aware RAG pipeline powered by LangChain and Hugging Face Embeddings for dynamic Q&A about colleges, cutoffs, and admissions processes.
• Intelligent Rank Prediction: The CutoffEngine analyzes real-world historical CSV data to filter and predict feasible colleges based on a student's rank, percentile, category, and target exams.
• Automated Data Ingestion: Includes web scraping pipelines, subpage discovery, vector store chunking (ChromaDB), and page cleaners to keep the AI's knowledge base continuously up-to-date.
• Administrative Analytics: Comprehensive admin dashboards for observing chat logs, API usage, active user counts, and system health.
• Profile Enrichment: Automatically extracts structured data (exam type, rank, category) from conversational text to build implicit user profiles.
• Modern Security: Built-in rate limiting (Redis), CSP headers, and robust Supabase authentication (Magic Links, OTP, OAuth).
• Enterprise Infrastructure: Fully automated CI/CD to Azure Container Apps utilizing Azure Key Vault and Managed Identities.

💻 Tech Stack

Frontend

• Framework: Next.js (App Router), React 18
• Language: TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS
• API Client: Native fetch configured for /api/v1 routes
• State & Context: React Context API

Backend

• Framework: FastAPI (Python 3.11)
• AI & Embeddings: LangChain, HuggingFace Inference Endpoints (HuggingFaceEndpointEmbeddings)
• Vector Store: ChromaDB
• Database: Supabase (PostgreSQL), Redis (Rate Limiting & Caching)
• Testing: Pytest, Pytest-Asyncio

Infrastructure

• Deployment: Azure Container Apps (ACA), Azure Key Vault
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions (lint, test, build, deploy)
• Containerization: Docker

---

🏗️ Architecture

High-Level System Design

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         CLIENT (Browser)                           │
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌───────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  Next.js 15  │  │  AuthProvider│  │  useChats (Hook)          │ │
│  │  React 19    │  │  (Supabase)  │  │  SSE Streaming           │ │
│  │  Tailwind 4  │  │  httpOnly    │  │  Optimistic Updates      │ │
│  └──────┬───────┘  │  Cookies     │  └───────────┬───────────────┘ │
│         │          └──────┬───────┘              │                 │
└─────────┼─────────────────┼──────────────────────┼─────────────────┘
          │                 │                      │
     HTTPS:9000        Credentials:          SSE Events:
          │             'include'            token, colleges,
          │                                  done, auth_required
          ▼                 ▼                      ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     GUNICORN + UVICORN (4 workers)                  │
│                         FastAPI Application                         │
│                                                                     │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                    MIDDLEWARE STACK                           │  │
│  │  CORS · RequestCtx · RateLimit · Tracing · ExceptionHandler  │  │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│                                                                     │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │              SUPREME ORCHESTRATOR                             │  │
│  │  Intent Parser → Prediction Agent / Web Knowledge Agent      │  │
│  │                  → Verifier Agent → SSE Stream                │  │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┘
                           │
            ┌──────────────┼──────────────────┬──────────────────┐
            ▼              ▼                  ▼                  ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│   Supabase DB   │ │ ChromaDB │ │      Redis       │ │  Local CSVs  │
│  (PostgreSQL)   │ │ (Vector) │ │ • Celery broker  │ │  (CEE, JEE)  │
│  • Profiles     │ │ • College│ │ • Usage counters │ │  • Cutoffs   │
│  • Chats        │ │   website│ │ • Rate limit     │ │  • Rank data │
│  • Messages     │ │   chunks │ │ • OTP metadata   │ │              │
└─────────────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────────────┘ └──────────────┘
                           │
                           ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   CELERY WORKER (Background)                        │
│  Ingestion Queue · Admin Alerts · Celery Beat (Weekly Rescrape)    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Data Layer

Store	Technology	Purpose
Relational DB	Supabase (PostgreSQL)	User profiles, chat history, anonymous sessions. RLS policies enforce data isolation.
Vector DB	ChromaDB (persistent)	Dense vector embeddings of scraped college websites. Version-tagged to prevent staleness.
Cache & Counters	Redis	Celery broker, usage counters (atomic Lua scripts), rate limiting, OTP metadata, URL dedup.
Structured Data	Local CSV files	Deterministic rank prediction — cee_cutoffs.csv, jee_cutoffs.csv. Read at query time, never embedded.

---

AI Multi-Agent Architecture

The system uses a Policy-Driven Multi-Agent Orchestrator. Queries are routed intelligently through specialized agents, each with strict boundaries.

flowchart TD
    User([Student])
    API["FastAPI /api/v1/chat (SSE Stream)"]
    UsageService["UsageService<br/>(Redis-backed credit check)"]
    Orchestrator{"Supreme Orchestrator<br/>Policy Router"}
    IntentParser["Intent Parser Agent<br/>(regex + LLM classification)"]
    PredictionAgent["Prediction Agent<br/>(deterministic algorithm)"]
    CSVs[(Local CSVs<br/>CEE, JEE cutoffs)]
    WebAgent["Web Knowledge Agent<br/>(3-Tier Retrieval)"]
    VectorDB[(ChromaDB<br/>College website vectors)]
    CollegeInfo[(College Info Service<br/>Structured JSON data)]
    Tavily["Tavily API<br/>(Live web search)"]
    Greeting["Greeting / Clarification<br/>Direct Response Handler"]
    Verifier["Verifier Agent<br/>(Hallucination guard)"]

    User <-->|SSE: token, colleges, done, auth_required| API
    API --> UsageService
    API -->|user_id, session_id| Orchestrator
    Orchestrator --> IntentParser
    IntentParser -- "intent = prediction" --> PredictionAgent
    PredictionAgent <--> CSVs
    IntentParser -- "intent = web_knowledge" --> WebAgent
    WebAgent --> VectorDB
    WebAgent -. "Tier 2: fallback if empty" .-> Tavily
    WebAgent -. "Tier 3: fallback" .-> CollegeInfo
    IntentParser -- "intent = greeting / off_topic" --> Greeting
    PredictionAgent --> Verifier
    WebAgent --> Verifier
    Greeting --> Orchestrator
    Verifier -- "Approved / Downgraded / Blocked" --> Orchestrator

Loading

Request Flow

1. SSE Connection: Frontend opens a POST to /api/v1/chat with Accept: text/event-stream. Backend streams tokens via Server-Sent Events.
2. Auth & Quota Gate (usage_service.py): Checks atomic Redis counters. Anonymous users get 3 prompts; authenticated users get unlimited prompts with 5 Tavily searches/month. Fail-open if Redis is unreachable.
3. Supreme Orchestrator (orchestrator.py): Delegates to Intent Parser, routes to the appropriate agent.
4. Intent Parser (intent_agent.py): Classifies query into greeting, prediction, web_knowledge, off_topic, or clarification via regex + LLM fallback.
5. Specialized Agents:
   • Prediction Agent: Deterministic algorithms against CSV cutoff data. No LLM involved.
   • Web Knowledge Agent (3-Tier): Tier 1 = ChromaDB with freshness scoring → Tier 2 = Tavily live web search (restricted to .ac.in, .edu.in) → Tier 3 = Local structured data.
6. Verifier Agent: Hallucination guard. Ensures rank claims are backed by CSV evidence. Can downgrade or block responses.
7. Self-Healing: When Tavily discovers a new official URL, a Celery task permanently ingests it into ChromaDB with version-tagging.

Policy Engine

Policy	File	Responsibility
Routing	routing_policy.py	Maps intent → agent
Budget	budget_policy.py	Controls per-request token/API spend
Source	source_policy.py	Approves/denies data sources by trust tier
Retrieval	retrieval_policy.py	Configures ChromaDB query parameters
Verification	verification_policy.py	Sets verifier strictness per intent
Fallback	fallback_policy.py	Controls Tavily/local fallback triggers

---

Frontend Architecture

frontend/
├── app/
│   ├── layout.tsx          # Root layout: AuthProvider + Toaster
│   ├── page.tsx            # Entry: auth gate → LandingAuth or ApplicationLayout
│   └── globals.css         # Tailwind imports + custom scrollbar
├── components/
│   ├── application-layout.tsx   # Shell: sidebar + chat area orchestration
│   ├── chat-area.tsx            # SSE stream, message display, input
│   ├── sidebar.tsx              # Chat list with date grouping via useMemo
│   ├── landing-auth.tsx         # 3-step auth: email → OTP → onboarding
│   ├── settings-modal.tsx       # Profile editing, sign out, guest CTA
│   └── typewriter-greeting.tsx  # Animated cycling greeting text
├── hooks/
│   ├── use-chats.ts        # Chat lifecycle: CRUD + anon sessions
│   └── use-mobile.ts       # Responsive breakpoint detection
├── lib/
│   ├── auth-context.tsx    # AuthProvider + useAuth() hook
│   ├── api.ts              # Centralized fetchApi() wrapper
│   ├── types.ts            # TypeScript interfaces matching backend
│   └── utils.ts            # cn() tailwind-merge utility
└── middleware.ts           # Pass-through (auth enforced server-side)

Key Design Decisions

Decision	Rationale
No client-side auth SDK	All auth flows through backend API with httpOnly cookies. Zero Supabase/Clerk keys exposed to the browser.
Derived message state	displayMessages is a useMemo over messages prop + streamingMessages overlay. Eliminates stale closure bugs.
SSE with fetch-event-source	@microsoft/fetch-event-source handles reconnection, event parsing, and cancellation.
FingerprintJS for guest IDs	Resilient, incognito-proof visitor tracking for anonymous session persistence.

SSE Protocol

Event Type	Payload	Frontend Action
token	{"type":"token","data":"text"}	Append to streaming message
colleges	{"type":"colleges","data":[...]}	Store prediction metadata
done	{"type":"done","tavily_skipped":true}	Signal stream end
auth_required	{"type":"auth_required"}	Show login toast
error	{"type":"error","data":"msg"}	Log error, show toast

---

Authentication System

All auth is built on Supabase Auth with no third-party frontend SDKs.

Method	Endpoint	Flow
Email OTP	POST /api/v1/auth/email/send-otp	Send email → 6-digit code → POST /api/v1/auth/email/verify
Google OAuth	GET /api/v1/auth/google	Redirect → Supabase consent → callback sets httpOnly cookies
Session	GET /api/v1/auth/session	Returns authenticated user from cookie
Logout	POST /api/v1/auth/logout	Clears httpOnly cookies

Security Property	Implementation
Token storage	httpOnly cookies — not accessible via JavaScript
Cookie security	Secure flag enabled in production
CSRF protection	SameSite=Lax on all cookies
Email validation	EmailValidator blocks disposable domains, strips Gmail aliases
Profile enrichment	Passive NLP extraction from chat messages (Celery task)

---

Freemium Gate & Usage Enforcement

Usage is enforced via atomic Redis Lua scripts to prevent race conditions.

User Type	Prompts	Tavily Searches	Reset
Anonymous (guest)	3 total	1 total	Never (until login)
Authenticated	Unlimited	5 per month	Auto-resets 1st of month

Admin alerts fire at 50% and 90% of the global Tavily monthly quota, plus a daily digest email.

---

Freshness & Staleness Strategy

ChromaDB chunks are version-tagged. Freshness is computed dynamically at query time, not stored in metadata.

Bucket	Age	Score Multiplier
current	<30 days	1.0
recent	<90 days	0.9
stale	<180 days	0.7
archive	≥180 days	0.5
unknown	No date	0.6

adjusted_score = relevance_score × freshness_multiplier

---

Observability & Fail-Open Design

Dependency Failure	System Behavior
Redis unreachable	Usage gate allows all requests (counters bypassed).
Tavily API down	Falls to Tier 3 (local data). LLM hedges: "Live search unavailable."
ChromaDB empty	Falls to Tier 2 (Tavily) then Tier 3 (local data).
Supabase offline	Chat SSE streaming still works (anonymous path).

---

📂 Repository Structure

rankroute/
├── backend/                  # FastAPI backend server
│   ├── app/                  # Application code
│   │   ├── api/              # API Endpoints (v1)
│   │   ├── core/             # LLM configurations & embeddings
│   │   ├── db/               # Supabase and migrations
│   │   ├── ingestion/        # Web scraping & vector ingestion pipeline
│   │   ├── middleware/       # Rate limiting, Auth, CSP
│   │   ├── models/           # Pydantic schemas
│   │   ├── orchestration/    # Agent-based AI routing policies
│   │   ├── retrieval/        # Cutoff engine & metadata filters
│   │   └── services/         # Core business logic
│   ├── tests/                # Pytest suite
│   ├── scripts/              # Utility scripts
│   ├── Dockerfile            # Backend container image
│   ├── requirements.txt      # Production dependencies
│   └── requirements-lock.txt # Pinned lockfile for CI
├── frontend/                 # Next.js frontend application
│   ├── app/                  # Next.js App Router (pages & layouts)
│   ├── components/           # Reusable React components
│   ├── hooks/                # Custom React hooks
│   ├── lib/                  # Utilities and API clients
│   └── package.json          # Node dependencies
├── infrastructure/           # Cloud deployment files
│   └── azure/                # Shell scripts for Azure ACA & Key Vault
├── .github/                  # GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows
└── docs/                     # ER diagrams and design mockups

🔌 API Reference

Chat & Streaming

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
POST	/api/v1/chat	Optional (cookie)	SSE-streamed chat response

Authentication

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
GET	/api/v1/auth/session	Cookie	Returns current user session
POST	/api/v1/auth/logout	Cookie	Clears auth cookies
POST	/api/v1/auth/email/send-otp	None	Send email OTP
POST	/api/v1/auth/email/verify	None	Verify OTP, set cookies
GET	/api/v1/auth/google	None	Redirect to Google OAuth
GET	/api/v1/auth/callback	None	OAuth callback handler
POST	/api/v1/auth/refresh	Cookie	Refresh access token

Chats (Authenticated)

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
GET	/api/v1/chats	Cookie	List user's chats
POST	/api/v1/chats	Cookie	Create new chat
GET	/api/v1/chats/{id}	Cookie	Get chat with messages
PATCH	/api/v1/chats/{id}	Cookie	Rename chat
DELETE	/api/v1/chats/{id}	Cookie	Delete chat + messages
POST	/api/v1/chats/clear	Cookie	Delete all chats for user

Temp Chats (Anonymous)

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
GET	/api/v1/temp-chats/{session_id}	None	Get temp chat by session
POST	/api/v1/transfer-temp-chat	Cookie	Transfer anon chat to auth user

Messages

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
POST	/api/v1/messages	Cookie	Save a message

Profile

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
GET	/api/v1/profile	Cookie	Get user profile
PATCH	/api/v1/profile	Cookie	Update profile fields

Other

Method	Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
GET	/api/v1/health	None	Health check (ChromaDB, cache, policies)
POST	/api/v1/scrape/run	API key	Trigger ingestion job
GET	/api/v1/scrape/status/{job_id}	API key	Check ingestion status
GET	/api/v1/colleges	None	Look up college data by rank

Entity-Relationship Diagram

See docs/ER_DIAGRAM.md for the full Mermaid ERD, schema design decisions, and RLS policies.

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🛠️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• Node.js 18+
• Redis (local or remote)
• Supabase Account

1. Backend Setup

cd backend
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Or `venv\Scripts\activate` on Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the server
uvicorn app.main:app --reload --port 9000

2. Frontend Setup

cd frontend
npm install

# Run the development server
npm run dev

3. Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the backend/ directory. See .env.example for the required keys.

Variable	Required	Description
SUPABASE_URL	Yes	Supabase project URL
SUPABASE_SERVICE_KEY	Yes	Supabase service role key
SUPABASE_JWT_SECRET	Yes	JWT secret for token verification
GROQ_API_KEY	Yes	LLM inference via Groq
HUGGINGFACE_API_TOKEN	Yes	Embedding API
TAVILY_API_KEY	Yes	Live web search fallback
REDIS_URL	Yes	Redis connection for Celery, caching, rate limiting
FRONTEND_URL	No	CORS + OAuth redirect (default: http://localhost:3000)

🧪 Testing

The backend includes a comprehensive test suite covering security, remediation, vector stores, and rate limits.

cd backend
pytest tests/ -v

🚀 Deployment

Deployment is fully automated via GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/deploy-azure.yml). Pushing to the main branch will:

1. Run linting and unit tests (ci.yml).
2. Build the Docker container for the backend.
3. Run database migrations via psql against Supabase.
4. Provision/Update Azure Key Vault and Managed Identities (infrastructure/azure/deploy.sh).
5. Deploy the latest image to Azure Container Apps.