search-starter-app

Copier template for bootstrapping Mistral Search Toolkit projects.

Built on the SDK in mistralai/search/toolkit — ingestion pipelines, Vespa indexing, and hybrid retrieval.

Prerequisites

This repo is a Copier template — a Python CLI that scaffolds a new project from template/ (not the French verb copier).

Install Copier once (pick one):

uv tool install copier

Or run it without a global install via uv:

uvx copier copy gh:mistralai/search-starter-app my-search-project

You also need Docker for local Vespa and uv in the generated project.

Usage

copier copy gh:mistralai/search-starter-app my-search-project

From a local git checkout:

copier copy ./search-starter-app my-search-project

Optional wrapper (same as copier copy, no extra flags):

./search-starter-app/scripts/setup my-search-project

Copier uses the latest git tag of the template (not uncommitted files). After changing the template, commit and tag a new release so copier copy ./search-starter-app picks up the changes.

Initial setup asks for Mistral API key and collection name. The destination folder is the project name (pyproject.toml, README, Vespa container). Ports default to 18080 / 19072 in .env.

Template Structure

template/
├── .env.jinja
├── pyproject.toml.jinja
├── README.md.jinja
├── Makefile.jinja                  # → Makefile in generated project
├── docker-compose.yaml.jinja
├── sample_data/hello.txt
├── .agents/skills/search/          # Search Toolkit agent skill
└── src/
    ├── entrypoints/
    │   ├── ingest.py               # Pipeline → VespaSearchIndex (file or directory)
    │   └── search.py               # QueryEngine → VectorRetriever
    └── vespa_app/
        ├── __init__.py               # VespaApp definition
        └── migrations/               # mistral-vespa migrate (hybrid query profile)

Quick start (after copier copy)

These commands run in the generated project. The repo root Makefile is only for template CI.

cd my-search-project
make setup-vespa
make ingest path=sample_data/hello.txt
make search query="hello world"
make bruno   # optional: API files under vespa/bruno/vespa/

Port selection is intentionally not part of the initial Copier questions. Generated projects default to 18080 / 19072; if needed later, users can edit .env (VESPA_QUERY_PORT, VESPA_CONFIG_PORT) without re-generating the project.

Variables

Variable	Description
(destination path)	Project name = folder you pass to copier copy
mistral_api_key	Mistral API key (written to .env, git-ignored)
collection_name	Vespa collection / schema name

Generated .env also sets default Vespa ports and WORKSPACE_ROOT=..