🤖 PY_ChatBot

A modular, secure, and extensible web-based chatbot platform built with Flask. Features include user authentication, session management, multi-database support, and a modern responsive UI.

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📋 Table of Contents

• Features
• Demo
• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage
• Project Structure
• Docker Setup
• Contributing
• Troubleshooting
• License

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✨ Features

• User Authentication

  • Registration, login, logout, and password change
  • Email validation and strong password requirements
  • Secure session cookies with configurable lifetime

• Multi-Database Support

  • Abstracted database layer
  • Thread-safe SQLite implementation
  • Ready for PostgreSQL/MySQL integration

• Modern UI/UX

  • Responsive templates: login, register, dashboard, profile, change password, 404
  • Gradient backgrounds, animations, and hover effects
  • Flash messages for real-time feedback

• Security

  • SHA-512 password hashing
  • Decorators for route protection (@login_required, @logout_required)
  • CSRF-ready and input validation utilities

• Developer-Friendly

  • Well-organized code: config, database, frontend, models, services, utils
  • Comprehensive logging and error handlers
  • Environment-based configuration

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🖥 Demo

Screenshots and live demo links can be added here.

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🛠 Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Git

Local Setup

1. Clone the repo

   git clone https://github.com/florianuhlig/PY_ChatBot.git
   cd PY_ChatBot
   git checkout Development
   

2. Create virtual environment

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate   # macOS/Linux
   .venv\Scripts\activate      # Windows
   

3. Install dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

4. Configure environment

   Copy .env.example to .env and adjust values:

   cp .env.example .env
   

5. Run the app

   python main.py
   

   Open your browser to http://localhost:8080.

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⚙️ Configuration

Edit .env for:

• DB_TYPE (e.g., sqlite, postgresql, mysql)
• SQLITE_PATH (path to SQLite file)
• FLASK_SECRET_KEY
• FLASK_DEBUG, FLASK_HOST, FLASK_PORT
• Session and password policy variables

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🚀 Usage

• Register: /register
• Login: /login
• Dashboard: /dashboard (protected)
• Profile: /profile (protected)
• Change Password: /change-password (protected)
• Logout: /logout

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📁 Project Structure

PY_ChatBot/
├── config/               # App configuration loader
│   └── database.py
├── database/             # DB abstraction and implementations
│   ├── interface.py
│   ├── sqlite_db.py
│   └── flask_integration.py
├── frontend/             # Flask application and templates
│   ├── app.py
│   └── templates/
│       ├── login.html
│       ├── register.html
│       ├── dashboard.html
│       ├── profile.html
│       ├── change_password.html
│       └── 404.html
├── models/               # Data models (if any)
├── services/             # Business logic: user and auth services
├── utils/                # Utility functions and decorators
├── .env.example          # Environment variable template
├── Dockerfile            # Container setup
├── docker-compose.yml    # Orchestration
├── docker-entrypoint.sh  # Init script
├── main.py               # Entry point
└── requirements.txt      # Python dependencies