title: "AdyTech99/volo: An F/OSS solution combining AI with Wikipedia knowledge via a RAG pipeline"
source: https://github.com/AdyTech99/volo
author:
  - "[[AdyTech99]]"
published: 
created: 2025-08-17
description: An F/OSS solution combining AI with Wikipedia knowledge via a RAG pipeline - AdyTech99/volo
tags:
  - Cougar-Ears

AdyTech99/volo: An F/OSS solution combining AI with Wikipedia knowledge via a RAG pipeline

Volo is an AI solution designed to enhance AI capabilities with Wikipedia knowledge through an efficient RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) pipeline. It utilizes an offline database of Wikipedia created by Kiwix, ensuring fast and reliable access to information without requiring constant internet connectivity.

Volo uses a tiny model (Qwen2.5:3b) and gives it the knowledge of nearly 7 million Wikipedia articles, making it a more reliable source of information than giant closed-source models like OpenAI's GPT4o and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which are prone to hallucinations.

By integrating with Ollama and supporting OpenAI-compatible REST APIs, Volo provides a flexible and user-friendly interface for knowledge-driven AI interactions.

✨ Features

Offline Wikipedia Database: Leverages a .zim file from Kiwix, offering a snapshot of Wikipedia for offline access.
RAG Workflow: Combines retrieval of factual data from Wikipedia with advanced AI generative capabilities.
Integration with Ollama: Supports Ollama models like qwen2.5:3b for superior natural language processing.
Configurable Settings: Fully customizable via config.ini.
OpenAI-Compatible REST APIs: Use Volo with interfaces like Open WebUI or your own API client.
Cross-Platform Support: Compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux.

3 GB VRAM (most discrete GPUs should be enough)
60 GB of disk space
A fast GPU

📦 Prerequisites

Before installing Volo, ensure you have the following installed:

Python 3.10 or later
- Download: https://www.python.org/downloads/
- Make sure pip is installed and available in your PATH.
Kiwix Offline Database
- Download the .zim file for Wikipedia (~55 GB):
  wikipedia_en_all_nopic_2024-06.zim
Ollama
- Follow the Ollama installation guide to set up the environment.
- Pull the required model:
```
ollama pull qwen2.5:3b
```
- Start the Ollama server:
```
ollama serve
```

🔧 Installation

Follow these steps to set up and run Volo:

Clone the Volo repository from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/AdyTech99/volo.git
cd volo

Install the required Python packages using pip:pip install -r requirements.txt

On macOS/Linux, run the commands:

./start.sh

On Windows, navigate to the cloned repository and double click start.bat

Once, the server runs, press CTRL+C to stop it.

Set Up config.ini: Open the newly-generated config.ini file and specify the path to the.zim file downloaded from Kiwix:

[Volo]
zim_file_path = /path/to/wikipedia_en_all_nopic_2024-06.zim

[Optional]: Modify other settings such as RAG options or model name.

On macOS/Linux, run the commands:

cd volo
./start.sh

On Windows, navigate to the cloned repository and double click start.bat

🚀 Usage

Upon starting the server, you can visit Volo's Web UI from http://localhost:3000

Open WebUI

Volo is compatible with Open WebUI. Simply add the API URL http://localhost:1255/v1 to the Connections page in Admin Settings. You can leave the API key empty, or just put a random string. Ensure that streaming is set to false

Volo provides REST API endpoints compatible with OpenAI:

/v1/models: List available models.
/v1/chat/completions: Generate AI chat completions.

You can use these endpoints with any OpenAI-compatible client, such as Open WebUI, or your own custom integrations. Volo provides a "volo-workflow" model that requests can be made to. When using an interface such as Open WebUI, select the "volo-workflow" model from the dropdown. The request will be sent through Volo's pipeline, and a result will be produced in the OpenAI format.

Using curl to make a chat completion request:

curl -X POST http://localhost:1255/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "model": "volo-workflow",
  "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What is the capital of France?"}]
}'

Customize Volo by editing the config.ini file:

[PATHS]
kiwix_search_path = path/to/volo/kiwix_tools/kiwix-tools-macos-arm64-3.7.0-2/kiwix-search
kiwix_serve_path = path/to/volo/kiwix_tools/kiwix-tools-macos-arm64-3.7.0-2/kiwix-serve
zim_file_path = /Volumes/T7/Documents/wikipedia_en_all_nopic_2024-06.zim

[SERVER]
port = 1255
kiwix_serve_url = http://localhost:821
heading_count = 64
ai_model = qwen2.5:3b
ollama_api_url = http://localhost:11434/api/chat

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you’d like to improve Volo, please: 1. Fork the repository. 2. Create a feature branch. 3. Submit a pull request with a detailed description.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the GPLv3 License. See the LICENSE file for details.

💡 Acknowledgments

Volo is powered by: • Kiwix for offline Wikipedia access. • Ollama for cutting-edge AI models.

Unleash the power of Wikipedia knowledge in your AI projects with Volo. Clone the repository, set it up, and begin exploring the endless possibilities!

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