Setting up the development environment

1. Python Environment Setup#

Check if your Python environment is already configured:

   python3 --version
   pip3 --version

Python 3 supported versions

Currently, rasa supports the following Python versions: 3.7 , 3.8 , 3.9 and 3.10 . Note that Python 3.10 is not currently supported for rasa installations on Apple Silicon. The blocker consists of current inability to update to Tensorflow version >= 2.10. x which is pending the resolution of a Tensorflow bug.

Follow this link to learn more

If these packages are already installed, these commands should display version numbers for each step, and you can skip to the next step.

Otherwise, proceed with the instructions below to install them.

Ubuntu:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install python3-dev python3-pip

macOS

Install the Homebrew package manager if you haven't already.

Once you're done, you can install Python3.

   brew update
   brew install pyenv
   pyenv install 3.8

Windows

Make sure the Microsoft VC++ Compiler is installed, so python can compile any dependencies. You can get the compiler from Visual Studio. Download the installer and select VC++ Build tools in the list.Install Python 3 (64-bit version) for Windows.

C:\> pip3 install -U pip

⚠️ If your Macbook uses M1 / M2 processors (Apple Silicon) follow the steps to Installing Rasa in this link

Virtual Environment Setup#

This step is optional, but we strongly recommend isolating python projects using virtual environments. Tools like virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper provide isolated Python environments, which are cleaner than installing packages system-wide (as they prevent dependency conflicts). They also let you install packages without root privileges.

We will need to install the virtual environment so that we generate the default folders and files for the bot.

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Windows users instructions

python3 -m venv env

Then run

env\Scripts\activate

Your environment is activated you can now install the rasa library If you want to deactivate the environment run deactivate

Mac(with Intel chip) & Linux users instructions

python3 -m venv env 

The you run the following command to activate environment

source env/bin/activate

Your environment is activated you can now install the rasa library If you want to deactivate the environment run deactivate

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Installing the Rasa

⚠️ First make sure your pip version is up to date:

  pip3 install -U pip

Once Python is installed, you can install Rasa using pip, the package installer for Python. Open the command prompt or terminal and run the following command:

   pip3 install rasa

Generate default project files and folders

Create a new Rasa project: After installing Rasa and its dependencies, you can create a new Rasa project by running the following command:

        rasa init

This command will create a new directory with the basic file structure for a Rasa project, including the config file, NLU file, stories file, and domain file.

Test the installation: To test the installation, you can run the following command:

      rasa shell

This command will start the Rasa shell, which allows you to test the chatbot and see the responses generated by Rasa.

Once you have completed these steps, you should have a working development environment for building a chatbot using Rasa. Remember to keep your packages up-to-date to have the latest features and bug fixes.

[OPTIONAL] Deploy to Docker

Step 1. Create a new file in the root directory

Create the file in the root directory ie. casa/Dockerfile

Step 2. Add instructions in the Dockerfile:

FROM python:3.7-slim 

RUN python -m pip install rasa 

WORKDIR /app 

COPY . .

RUN rasa train nlu

# set the user to run , dont run as root 
USER 1001 

# set entry point for interactive shell 

ENTRYPOINT ["rasa"]

# command to run when container is called to run 
CMD ["run", "--enable-api", "port", "8080"]

Step 3. Build the Docker image

You cannot run Rasa in a Docker container on Apple Silicon, only native installations currently work. An installation in docker requires support for Ubuntu aarch64 which the current tensorflow version 2.8 does not provide - only MacOS is supported as an operating system running on aarch64. Rasa team expects a future upgrade of Tensorflow to allow Apple Silicon users to run Rasa inside of Docker.

The syntax command docker build -t <image_name>:<version> .

Run the following: docker build -t casa:v1 .

Example output after running command

This will take a while so be patient 😉

Other Resources