SuperCar Virtual Sales Assistant - Backend Engineer Test

Overview

This repository contains a test for backend engineers who will be working on AI-related systems. The test focuses on building a FastAPI backend that streams AI responses using Server-Sent Events (SSE) and implements tool calling functionality with Groq API. Your API will integrate with the provided frontend, which is a chat interface for Lex, a virtual sales assistant for SuperCar dealerships.

The test evaluates your ability to:

1. Implement Server-Sent Events (SSE) with FastAPI
2. Use Groq API for LLM tool calling with Llama 3.3 70B Versatile
3. Structure a maintainable backend API
4. Work with the provided frontend implementation

Getting Started

Development with Docker Compose (Recommended)

The easiest way to get started is using Docker Compose, which will set up both the backend and frontend environments for you:

1. Create a free Groq API account at https://console.groq.com/ and get your API key

2. Navigate to the backend directory and create a .env file with your Groq API key:

cd backend
cp .env.sample .env
# Edit the .env file to add your Groq API key

3. Run the development environment using Docker Compose:

cd ../infrastructure
docker-compose up

This will:

• Start the backend FastAPI service on http://localhost:8000
• Start the frontend Next.js application on http://localhost:3000
• Set up volume mounts so your code changes are reflected immediately

4. Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser to see the frontend
5. The backend includes a basic "hello world" implementation that you can use as a starting point. You'll need to modify backend/main.py to implement the full functionality.

Setting Up Your Development Environment Manually

If you prefer to run without Docker, you can set up your environment directly:

1. Install the required dependencies:

pip install fastapi uvicorn sse-starlette pydantic python-dotenv groq

2. Create a free Groq API account at https://console.groq.com/ and get your API key

3. Create a .env file with your Groq API key:

GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key_here

4. Run the FastAPI application:

uvicorn backend.main:app --reload